The Central team comprising officials from the Central Water Commission and other departments, which commenced its assessment of the Cauvery basin areas in the State on Friday, is expected to submit its report by Monday or Tuesday.
This was stated by Cauvery Neeravari Nigama Ltd (CNNL) Managing Director M.A. Sadiq who accompanied the team.
The team has come to Karnataka at the State Government’s request which has filed a review petition before the Supreme Court seeking a review of its earlier decision directing Karnataka to release 9,000 cusecs of water from September 21 to October 15 to Tamil Nadu.
The team comprised Jacob, Chief Engineer (Monitoring), Jalasoudha, Jalahalli, Bangalore; B.P. Pandey, Director, Inter-State Matters, Central Water Commission, New Delhi; P.K. Saha, Deputy Commissioner, Ministry of Agriculture, New Delhi; and D. Ranga Reddy, Director, Monitoring, Jalasoudha, Bangalore.
They arrived at Mysore after conducting an aerial survey of the Krishnaraja Sagar (KRS) command area in Mandya and headed by road for the rural hinterland in Mysore and Mandya districts to inspect the standing crops, area under coverage and to assess the extent of water stress.
After its assessment of the KRS command area, the team left for Ramanahalli, Karipura, Mahadevapura comprising the Virija command area. Late in the afternoon, the Central team visited Pandavpura, Chikkade, Pattasomanahalli, Kanakanamaradi, Elekere handpost, Kyatanahalli, Aru, Aralukuppe and Kateri. This was followed by a survey of agricultural tracts in K.R. Pet via Pandavapura, Hemagiri anecut areas, Mandagere anecut areas and Hemavathy Left Bank Canal achkat areas. On Saturday, the team will conduct an aerial survey of Kabini command area, Hullahalli anecut area and Harangi command area in Hunsur and K.R. Nagar and reach Hassan around noon.
The team members did not take any questions from the media but Mr. Sadiq said the Central team had come to assess the ground situation following the State Government’s objections to the CRA directives as a “blind decision”.
Speaking to mediapersons, Mr. Sadiq said the team had conducted an aerial survey of the KRS command area comprising about 1,86,000 acres.
Water-level
Meanwhile, the water-level of the Krishnaraja Sagar (KRS) as on Friday was 107.71 ft against the FRL of 124.80 ft. The reservoir level during the corresponding period last year was 121.85 feet. The inflow on Friday was at the rate of 4,893 cusecs while the outflow was 6,831 cusecs apart from a discharge of nearly 3,800 cusecs to the canals. The live storage in the reservoir was 21.10 tmcft.
The water-level in Kabini reservoir was 2,269.45 feet against the FRL of 2,284 feet. While the inflow was at the rate of 1,302 cusecs, the outflow from the reservoir was at the rate of 1,825 cusecs and the live storage in the dam was 1.6 tmcft. The reservoir level at Harangi was 2847.30 ft against the FRL of 2,859 feet and the inflow was 361 cusecs, the outflow was 5,156 cusecs and the live storage was 4.56 tmcft.
Apprised
Mandya Staff Correspondent reports:
The former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, Mandya MP N. Cheluvarayaswamy and others told the team members that the farmers in the district were reeling under severe drought due to scanty rainfall. The leaders also explained the plight of the farmers in supplying fodder and drinking water to their cattle.
