Cauvery water eludes TN farmers, rushes to sea

Even as their brethren in Kerala are facing one of the worst floods to hit the State, farmers in  Tamil Nadu’s Cauvery basin are confronted by a strange paradox - scarcity amidst plenty.

The Cauvery river, the bone of contention between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka for more than a century, discharges more than two lakh cusecs (cubic feet per second) water to the Mettur Dam in Tamil Nadu.  Though the Tamil Nadu government opened the shutters of the Dam last month to facilitate paddy cultivation in the five districts of Thanjavur, Thiruvarur, Nagapattinam, Tiruchirappalli, and Cuddalore (together they are known as the Rice Bowl of Tamil Nadu), farmers stand devastated as the tail-end regions in these fertile districts are yet to get water.

“There is no water for irrigation and the entire water released from Mettur get discharged into Bay of Bengal,” said Kattumannarkoil Kannan, vice-president, Cauvery Delta Farmers Welfare Association, an umbrella organisation of all farmers’ associations in Cauvery Basin.

He said though there was surplus water in both Cauvery and Kollidam (the discharge channel of Cauvery), it goes waste. “The Government has not desilted the irrigation channels for more than ten years. Though we have been demanding for more than ten years that seven barrages be built across the Cauvery, the Government has not bothered to heed to our request,” said Kannan, himself a farmer who has incurred heavy losses due to crop failure.

The announcement on Sunday by Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswamy that his government would construct 62 check dams spending Rs 1,000 crore has not enthused the farming community. “Late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa had declared in the assembly in 2011 that barrages would be built across Cauvery. But that remains as a mere promise even after seven years,” said Kannan.

Arupathy Kalyanam, general secretary, Federation of Farmers Associations of Tamil Nadu, said the present imbroglio was due to poor water management policy. Farmers across the fertile Kumbakonam, Mannargudi and Cuddlaore regions staged demonstrations on Monday demanding immediate desilting of the irrigation channels. “We are standing as mute spectators as precious water from the Cauvery is wasted into the Bay of Bengal, “ said Kalyanam as another crop failure stares at the more than 2 lakh farmers in these districts.

While Cauvery discharges  more than two lakh cusecs water into the sea, Godavari River in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh discharge 10.6 lakh cusecs water into the Bay of Bengal. “Had these rivers been interlinked, the water shortage would have been addressed once and for ever,” said S. Kalyanaraman, director, Saraswathi Research Centre, Chennai, a specialist in water related issues.

He said it was time the Centre initiated steps to inter link the peninsular Indian rivers like Mahanadi, Godavari, Krishna , Cauvery and Vaigai. “If the west flowing rivers of Kerala like Pamba and  Achankoil were linked to this river system, the floods which devastated Kerala would not have happened” said Kalyanaraman.

Kannan pointed out that the west flowing rivers in Karnataka could be linked to Cauvery which would be a win-win situation for the farmers of both the States. “We are wasting water into Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal while the farmers cry for water,” said Kannan.