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Tamil Nadu
By G. Srinivasan
Two days after Karnataka halted the release of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu, State PWD authorities today sharply reduced the discharge from the Mettur dam for Thanjavur, Tiruvarur and Nagapattinam districts to 9,998 cusecs from 15,000 cusecs on Thursday. In the face of uncertain flows, the delta districts' initial plan of raising the crop on three lakh hectares is hanging fire. Most farmers have not even begun raising nurseries for fear of losing their investment. Shelving cultivation until they get an assurance of continued supply, they believe, is better than risking investment in the long-term samba, particularly after the failure of the short-term kuruvai. Agriculture department officials are apprehensive that not even a quarter of the normal samba coverage will be possible this year if the water row does not end immediately. Clearly, the flow is far from sufficient to raise nurseries and complete transplantation. Even if the farmers complete transplantation with available water by reducing the area of coverage, the crops will sustain only if the skies open up or Karnataka opens the Kabini reservoir once again. The farmers in the tail-end areas are the worst-affected. For, only when 10,000 cusecs is released from the Mettur dam, will water reach tail-end areas. In a bid to supply the available water to the river systems, the PWD authorities have adopted a turn system of distribution. During the turn for releasing water in the main Cauvery course, only 250 to 500 cusecs was released into the Vennar river for five days. Hence the flow came down in the Vennar system with little water in upper reaches and no water in the tail-end areas. However, from 6 p.m. on Friday, it was the turn of the Vennar system to get water. And 7,329 cusecs was released into the Vennar from last evening. Farmers of the system can hope to raise nurseries in the next six days only if the supply continues. Obviously, Karnataka's decision to stop release of water from Kabini, citing a law and order situation has come as a jolt to the farmers of the delta districts. And, they echo the Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa's view that the protests by farmers jumping into the Kabini reservoir were only a drama enacted to stop water supply. "The agitations are stage-managed and Karnataka is trying every means to refuse water to Tamil Nadu,'' said an agitated Arupathi Kalyanam, secretary, Federation of Farmers Associations of Thanjavur, Tiruvarur and Nagapattinam. "If the situation continues, we will have no choice but to take control of the Kabini dam, which was once part of the Madras presidency,'' he warned. It would only result in a backlash from Tamil Nadu with people and farmers rising against the "narrow, parochial attitude of Karnataka" said Mr. Kalyanam. Meanwhile, the level in the Mettur dam stood at 51.85 feet (full level 120 feet). The inflow was 7,660 cusecs and the discharge 9,998 cusecs. The discharge into the Cauvery was 303 cusecs, into the Vennar 7,329 cusecs and into the Grand Anaicut canal 2,131 cusecs.
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