The Hindu : T.N. disputes Karnataka's claim

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Oct 22, 2002

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T.N. disputes Karnataka's claim

By T. Ramakrishnan

CHENNAI OCT. 21. Tamil Nadu has disputed Karnataka's claim that 77 per cent of the quantum of water due to it was released during the first two weeks of this month.

"During October 1 to 14, the aggregate received at Mettur was 79,800 cusecs (cubic feet per second). This was equivalent to about 63 per cent of the total amount we should have got, as per the orders of the Cauvery River Authority (CRA) and the Supreme Court," a senior official in the State Government told The Hindu.

In net terms, the State should have received 10.8 tmcft (thousand million cubic feet) but what was realised at Mettur was only 6.9 tmcft.

Adverting to the Karnataka Water Resources Minister, H.K. Patil's observations at a press conference in New Delhi on Sunday, the official contended that Karnataka had possibly worked out the calculation, going by the flows at the Central Water Commission's measuring site in Biligundlu (located on the Karnataka-Tamil Nadu border) and contribution in the catchment between Biligundlu and Mettur in a normal monsoon.

"It is not only our stand, but also that of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal that the reference point should be the Mettur reservoir and not Biligundlu. In fact, the apex court, even in its interim order in September, had directed Karnataka to release water to ensure that 1.25 tmcft of water was made available at Mettur", the official pointed out.

Moreover, this year, as the monsoon had failed, the expected contribution from the intermediate catchment (between Biligundlu and Mettur) did not materialise. In a normal year, five tmcft of water was likely to be generated by the catchment for Mettur during October, the official said. This morning, the water level in the Mettur dam stood at 41.2 ft and the storage was 12.7 tmcft. The inflow was 4,600 cusecs and the discharge 1,000 cusecs.

Referring to repeated arguments by Karnataka that the northeast monsoon (October - December) would take care of the irrigation requirements of Tamil Nadu farmers, a seasoned farmer said the timely release of water from Mettur around the middle of July decided the fate of samba paddy in the Cauvery delta and continued sufficient flows during August and September helped the growth of samba to enable the crop to withstand the ravage of the northeast monsoon which normally battered the delta.

Of the expected 700 mm of rain in the three months, 400 mm would occur in just one week.

"In other words, the northeast monsoon alone cannot sustain the samba crop", the farmer said, adding that this year, farming operations were disturbed owing to poor inflow of water to Tamil Nadu and the consequent delay in the opening of the Mettur dam.

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