The Supreme Court’s order increasing the allocation of Cauvery water to Karnataka by 14.75 tmc has evoked a mixed reaction among farmers in the Cauvery basin area and irrigation experts, while the legal team that represented the State has called it a “partial victory.”
Two key concerns expressed by many are over the court’s direction to the Centre to form the Cauvery Management Board within a time frame and lack of a distress formula during a lean year. These have tempered the initial euphoria over additional allocation.
The Karnataka Govenment has argued all along that formation of a Board will rob it of its supervisory role over its reservoirs. M. Lakshman, convenor, Cauvery Technical Advisory Committee of the Institution of Engineers, said, “This will go against the interest of Karnataka in the long run.”
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There is also concern that the absence of a clear distress sharing mechanism will only throw up potential conflicts again. Badagalpura Nagendra of Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha (KRRS) said the additional allocation was a marginal relief and not a major victory.
“The question still remains as to how to share water when the monsoon fails and we have to await the views of experts on this issue,” he said. This view is endorsed by Kurubur Shanthakumar of the Karnataka State Sugarcane Farmers Association.
But the court removing the ceiling on area of cultivation in the State is seen as a positive. There is a general perception that nearly 1 lakh acres of land – under mixed cropping pattern – could be brought under cultivation with the additional water granted. But concerns of a lean year, the frequency of which is only increasing, remain. In the last five years only one year had normal rainfall, farmers argue.
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Brijesh Kalappa, one of the senior advocates, highlighted the other concerns, “There seems to be no clarity on Mekedatu project, for which we need to see the fine-print of the verdict.”