Southern States - Pondicherry   

Rangasamy seeks PM help for Cauvery water to Karaikal

By Our Staff Reporter

Pondicherry, Aug. 28. The Pondicherry Chief Minister, N. Rangasamy, has urged the Prime Minister, A. B. Vajpayee, to grant financial assistance to Pondicherry to alleviate the sufferings of drought-hit farmers and labourers.

He has also sought Mr. Vajpayee's intervention to ensure that 4.01 tmc of water was released to drought-hit Karaikal before the end of September as envisaged in the interim order of the tribunal.

At the fourth meeting of the CRA in New Delhi yesterday, Mr. Rangasamy said inadequate inflow of Cauvery water had crippled agricultural activities in the region. As against a potential coverage area of 6,230 hectares in the kuruvai season, nursery raised on 800 hectares had withered away. If Cauvery water did not reach Karaikal in the near future, the hopes of raising samba crop would be bleak. He put the crop loss this year at Rs. 30 crores. The grim situation had rendered hundreds of labourers jobless.

Mr. Rangasamy said drinking water supply to Karaikal was also affected. Hence, the territorial administration had declared Karaikal a drought-affected region. A Central assistance of Rs. 32.4 crores had been sought to tide over the crisis.

Mr. Rangasamy recalled the interim order of the tribunal given on June 25, 1991, directing the Karnataka Government to release 205 tmc of water per annum to Tamil Nadu and the latter had to release six tmc of water per annum to Pondicherry. ``But we never received the stipulated quantity of water during June, July, August and September in any of the years that followed the order.''

As against the stipulated quantity of 4.01 tmc for the period June-September, Karaikal received only 3.26 tmc in 1997, 2.94 tmc in 1998, 2.36 tmc in 1999, 2.68 tmc in 2000 and 1.98 tmc in 2001.

During this year, it had not received even a single drop of water till this date.

`Such uncertain supplies year after year had paralysed agricultural activity in Karaikal', he said.

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