THANJAVUR: Farmers of Cauvery delta districts are hopeful of taking 'kuruvai (short term crop)' this year as they believe that Cauvery Management Board (CMB), which is a “mechanism wanted by Supreme Court to execute its order” on Cauvery waters, should be in place in six weeks as stipulated by the court.
“The traditional date for opening of Mettur dam for Kuruvai is June 12. As CMB is to be constituted within six weeks from yesterday (February 16), it will be in place by April. It will work out the modalities of executing the order. It will also decide on the pro-rata water release for each month. It is learnt that at present there is 90 tmcft of water in Karnataka reservoirs. So this augurs well for Kuruvai this year (2018),” said S.Ranganathan, Secretary, Cauvery Delta Farmers Welfare Association.
Most of the farmers have reconciled to the fact that they may not be able to save 50 per cent of the standing 'samba' crop in the districts as immediate release of 15 tmcft of water required by Tamil Nadu is not in sight. But with the apex court's order on February 16, they feel that from next year onwards things may normalise, provided Karnataka also co-operates.
Asked whether it was possible to take up 'Kuruvai' at all with quantum of water reduced to 177.25 tmcft for Tamil Nadu by the court, Ranganathan said that it is possible. He said that final award of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal was given only on 50 per cent dependability i.e. it provided water only for 50 per cent of area of cultivation both in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. That is the interesting and important feature of Cauvery dispute solution. Throughout the world awards are given in river water disputes on 60 per cent to 65 per cent dependability.
“This means we have to manage somehow using groundwater or rain water or even we may have to go for changing of crop pattern,” Ranganathan explained.
Worry of the farmers in the delta is that they lost 'Kuruvai' in canal irrigated areas for the past six years. 'Samba' paddy also ran into rough weather on many years. In such a situation, they expect the mechanism for executing the order should be foolproof, have powers and autonomy. However, some farmers said that 'kuruvai' may not be a reality hereafter, as the quantum of water has been reduced and we require at least 210 tmcft for 'Samba' itself.
Sundara Vimalanathan, secretary of Thanjai district Cauvery farmers' protection committee said that there was no history when Karnataka released water for 'Kuruvai'. Mettur dam was opened on traditional date of June 12, only when its closing storage was good and Southwest monsoon was good. “For the last six years, the dam has not been opened on June 12 for 'Kuruvai'. Karnataka has not come to our rescue. So farmers have to be content with only one crop 'samba' hereafter,” Vimalanathan said.
