Date:12/06/2004 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2004/06/12/stories/2004061207240400.htm

Tamil Nadu

Officials impress on Central team gravity of the situation

By R. Ilangovan

METTUR, JUNE 11. Yet another Central team has visited the Stanley reservoir here and will submit a "factual assessment report'' on storage to the Union Ministry of Water Resources.

The three-member technical team, which came following representations made by Tamil Nadu MPs to the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, last evening spent nearly an hour at the dam site and had a two-hour meeting with senior officials from Public Works and Agriculture departments.

The officials placed loads of materials, supplemented with documentary evidence, before the panel of two water experts and an agriculture scientist. "The reservoir is totally dry and we just need our rightful share of 205 tmcft (thousand million cubic feet) of water from Karnataka, provided in the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal's interim award," said a senior Agriculture department official. "They (team members) seemed to have grasped the seriousness of the issue," he added.

A document on the vital readings in the reservoir for 14 years since 1990-91, which was submitted to the panel, clearly shows the gradual decrease in inflows, ushering in a distress situation in the delta districts. The dam had "moderate" surplus outflows on just four occasions during this period.

Warnings ignored

The delta farmers failed to hear the warning, sounded way back in 1995-96, during which it received just 182.73 tmcft. They raised crops in a "limited acreage." In 1996-97, the dam received close to 244.02 tmcft. But the farmers saved the crop, thanks to good rain.

The situation turned critical from 2001-2002. Against the interim award of 205 tmcft, the reservoir received a mere 162.732 tmcft for the irrigation year June-May. According to the report, the dam received just 94.865 tmcft and the farmers were left in the lurch; they could not raise kuruvai crop for the second year in a row. Now the farmers face yet another bleak irrigation year, with a dismal storage of 65.138 tmcft.

The report dwelt on the reservoir recordings, specifically for the period between June 1, 2003 and May 31, 2004 to "make the members understand the gravity of the situation and the justification in Tamil Nadu's demand." It took 12 months for the dam to register a 1.770-tmcft increase in storage from 5.991 tmcft in June 1, 2003 to 7.761 tmcft in May 31, 2004. The only consolation is that it received 3.062 tmcft in May 2004 against 2.010 tmcft prescribed in the interim award. The last five days in May saw an increase in the inflow of 0.922 tmcft against the stipulated inflow of 0.520 tmcft.

In its seven decades-history, the dam was opened on 70 occasions for delta irrigation, including 13 times on the scheduled date of June 12.

The present team is the second high-power committee, which inspected the dam in three years in connection with the Cauvery dispute. And this is the first time a committee visited the dam before June 12.

Meanwhile, a team of government officials left for the Bannari Amman temple to pray for rain.