CM urged to ensure due quantum of Cauvery water to TN

‘State govt. must ask for a joint inspection of the reservoirs in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu’

September 08, 2016 03:27 am | Updated September 22, 2016 05:40 pm IST - THANJAVUR:

Delta farmers and political parties have urged Chief Minister Jayalalithaa to ensure that Karnataka adhered to the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal award by releasing the due quantum of water to Tamil Nadu in the next hearing before the Supreme Court.

“Karnataka has wrongly claimed before the Supreme Court that the tribunal had not stated the pro rata quantum to be shared in times of distress. The tribunal had, in its final order, clearly laid out the scheme to be adopted in times of water scarcity based on which Tamil Nadu will get at least 39.10 per cent of the available water stored in Karnataka reservoirs.

Based on the tribunal’s ruling only the Supreme Court must have arrived at the quantum of water release but the recent ruling did not go that way.

Ms. Jayalalithaa must give suitable instructions to State counsel so that the case would be strengthened,” said coordinator of the Cauvery Rights Retrieval Committee P. Maniyarasan.

“When the State government presents its case before the Supervisory Committee as directed by the Supreme Court in a couple of days, it must clearly ask for a joint inspection of the reservoirs in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu for assessing the real storage levels and requirements. There must be a plea for following the pro rata base policy as laid down by the tribunal,” said P.R. Pandian, general secretary of the Tamizhaga Cauvery Farmers Association.

Only a legal solution would benefit Tamil Nadu, Mr. Pandian said, adding that the final orders of the tribunal must not be flouted or modified.

“The recent Supreme Court order directing Karnataka to release 15,000 cusecs for 10 days offers us just a consolation and much more needs to be done for ensuring proper samba paddy cultivation,” he observed.

Pointing to the inadequate quantum ordered to be released by Karnataka and the question of distress sharing, secretary of the Cauvery Farmers Protection Association Swamimalai S. Vimalnathan also stressed that the State government should not mince words in stating that there existed a distress sharing formula on a pro rata basis as per the final orders of the tribunal and that the delta farmers could never think of anybody tinkering with the tribunal’s orders in any manner though they are, for the time being, forced to accept the Supreme Court’s recent order on water release. The State government has a task in its hand before the Supervisory Committee, he observed.

Call for protest

Meanwhile, some farmers’ organisations and political parties have come together under the umbrella of “Cauvery struggle committee” and given a call for a stir in front of Central government offices in the districts of Thanjavur, Tiruvarur and Nagapattinam on September 16.

Announcing the formation of the committee after a conclave, Mr. Pandian said if attacks on Tamils continued in Karnataka, they would be forced to launch agitations .

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