Jayalalithaa urges Manmohan to convene CRA meeting

Wants him to advise Karnataka to release water

Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Thursday urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, also the Chairman of the Cauvery River Authority (CRA), to convene a CRA meeting and advise the Karnataka government to release water to Tamil Nadu for samba crop.

Pointing out that the Mettur dam could not be opened due to what she called the Karnataka government’s reluctance to share even the minimum flows with Tamil Nadu, Ms. Jayalalithaa, in her letter, stated that according to the interim order of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal which was now in force, the Mettur dam should have, as on date, realised 95.480 thousand million cubic feet (TMC ft) against which only a meagre quantity of 9.187 TMC ft. had been realised.

Further, according to the distress-sharing formula evolved by the Central Water Commission, the dam should have got about 43.837 TMC ft. till now. “Farmers in the Cauvery delta, having lost kuruvai crop, are hoping at least to raise one single samba crop for their livelihood,” she said, adding that the Karnataka government should be told to make good the shortfall quantity as per the distress-sharing formula and also to share the flows in this distress situation.

Recalling that her request for convening a meeting of the Authority, conveyed through her letter of May 18, was yet to be acceded to, the Chief Minister cited an order of the Supreme Court in February 2003, which stated that in the absence of unanimity or consensus among the members of the Authority, the decision of the Prime Minister-Chairperson shall be decisive. “Therefore, without prejudice to the pending proceedings in the Supreme Court, the Prime Minister as the Chairperson may convene a meeting of the Cauvery River Authority and the Distress Sharing Formula can be adopted as a situation of distress has arisen now,” she added.

Mettur dam

On Thursday, the Chief Minister held a meeting with senior government officials to review the position. Given the present storage of the Mettur dam, the authorities are contemplating of opening it for irrigation around September second week.

This morning, the storage of the dam was 38.8 TMC ft against the capacity of 93.4 TMC ft.

The opening of the dam will be so timed that farmers, who will be raising samba crop, can reap the benefit of northeast monsoon, whose onset will be around October 20. Since the Tribunal gave the interim order in June 1991, the Mettur dam was opened in September only once. On September 6, 2002, the dam was opened with about 30 TMC ft storage.