The Hindu : Bhavani river row

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Feb 01, 2003

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Bhavani river row

THE UNION ENVIRONMENT Ministry's decision to withhold clearance to Kerala for the construction of a weir to divert water from the Bhavani, an inter-State tributary of the Cauvery, highlights the disquiet over the potential ecological impact of the river diversion on the Nilgiris Biosphere Reserve. The Ministry has apparently paid heed to complaints about felling of trees in the Mannarkad forest area for creating the weir and a channel. The Union Ministry's intervention though not exactly on the water-sharing row but seeking to address the environmental fallout of the project may bring a pause in the standoff between the two States. What began as an innocuous minor irrigation work rapidly emerged as a confrontation point between Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The war of words appears quite disproportionate to the size of the project, which envisages the utilisation of less than one thousand million cubic feet (1 tmcft) of water to irrigate areas which Tamil Nadu says are outside the Bhavani river basin. The complaints by Tamil Nadu's farmers against the diversion and the Kerala Government's charge that Tamil Nadu is not honouring its commitments in inter-State water sharing agreements seemed to drown the concerns raised by environmentalists and Opposition leaders in Kerala, that the water diversion may further erode the already denuded forests.

The Bhavani being a segment of the Cauvery basin, the standoff is also unfortunately emerging as another acrimonious point within the overall Cauvery dispute. The present arguments rose a month ago, when the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister wrote to her Kerala counterpart opposing the weir construction at Mukkali to divert the water course westwards, from the east-flowing Bhavani. Tamil Nadu feels that the diversion was being done even when the Cauvery issue is pending before the Tribunal. And second, the water is to be diverted outside the already water-deficient Cauvery basin. Both could adversely affect some drinking water supply and irrigation schemes in Tamil Nadu. The State has taken it up with the Cauvery Tribunal already. However, Kerala contends that it wants to utilise only one tmcft for irrigation, although as per the 1973 inter-State agreement under the Siruvani Drinking Water Supply Scheme, it could utilise 2.5 tmcft of Bhavani water after construction of the Siruvani reservoir. Adding to the heat was the Kerala Water Resources Minister, T.M. Jacob's charge that Tamil Nadu was violating inter-State river water accords such as the Parambikulam-Aliyar Project, and the Mullaperiyar and the Siruvani water supply agreements, though Kerala was honouring its commitments to provide water to Tamil Nadu despite great difficulties.

As the trading of charges goes on, a saner argument needs to be articulated. Tamil Nadu need not have a grouse if the water is used within the river basin itself and not taken outside, or the course of the river is not changed. The Kerala Chief Minister's stand that he is prepared for talks with Tamil Nadu on all pending water disputes needs to be followed up. The experience of long-standing water disputes shows that only the farming communities and those in dire need of drinking water suffer in a standoff, as also the Government's administration and finances. If water disputes continue to foment hostility among States and their peoples, the concept of inter-basin transfers will be rendered meaningless. Any discussion on inter-basin transfers cannot centre around only water sharing, but should go into long-term means to ensure the nation's water and food security as also the environmental impact of changing river courses and transferring huge quantities of water across different land features. A rational starting point would be for the Irrigation Ministers of the States concerned to sit and settle water-sharing points before every irrigation season. The talks should be held under a structured mechanism that provides at least interim solutions to protect the interests of farmers on all sides in a balanced manner.

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