The Finance Minister’s silence over the inter-linking of Kaveri, Krishna and Godavari rivers which would have addressed the scarcity of irrigation waters in Tamil Nadu’s Kaveri Delta districts have dampened the spirit of the farmers in the region.
This means that there is no end in site for the ongoing legal battle between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu over Kaveri River water. Both the States are getting ready to approach the Supreme Court against each other, Tamil Nadu demanding Karnataka to release Kaveri water while Karnataka expressing its helplessness in obeying the apex court order asking it to release 192 Thousand Million Cubic Feet (TMCFT) water during every water year (1 June to 31 May) to facilitate paddy cultivation in the districts of Thanjavur, Thiruvarur, Nagapattinam, Tiruchirapalli, Cuddalore and Puthukottai.
Every year see flood waters of Kaveri River getting discharged into the Arabian Sea. If the west flowing tributaries of Kaveri are directed to Tamil Nadu, the lower riparian State would not face any issues and the short term Kuruvai and long term Samba crops could be cultivated without any water scarcity, said Dr S Kalyanaraman, director, Sarawathi Research Foundation, Chennai.
“The fine option available for Tamil Nadu is the linking of Kaveri, Krishna and Godavari Rivers. This will help the farmers to make use of the flood waters of Godavari discharged into the Bay of Bengal for crop cultivation in the Delta districts of Tamil Nadu. NaMo Government which had promised water for everyone and control of floods and droughts by river inter linking should go on a mission mode for the execution of the project,” Kalyanaraman, a former chief executive of Asian Development Bank told The Pioneer.
Thiruvarur based A Sathyanarayana, president, Consortium of Kaveri Delta Farmers, said though no formal announcement has been made in the budget speech, there is enough provision in the statutes to take up the interlinking of rivers project by separate notification. “We are hoping against hope that the Center would do something to help Tamil Nadu come out of this perpetual drought sitiation.
K S Radhakrishnan, former DMK leader who took up the inter linking case to the apex court and got a favorable verdict said he was disappointed that the project remains on drawing board.
“The detailed project report is ready and all that the government has to do is to launch the work. Nitin Gadkari, who was the minister in charge of water resources had assured the Tamil Nadu farmers that he would initiate measures to inter link Kaaveri, Krishna and Godavari. But he has been shunted out of the ministry and we don’t know what the present miister is up to,” said Radhakrishnan. He said that the ruling DMK’s priority was on elevating Udhayanidhi Stalin as deputy chief minister.
