Farmers and the non-BJP Opposition parties in Tamil Nadu are split over the Centre’s decision to form the Cauvery Water Management Authority ( CWMA )and Cauvery Water Regulatory Authority (CWRA) as per the directive of the Supreme Court.
Even as major political parties like the DMK, the Congress, the lefts and fringe outfits like the
Dravidar Kazhagam and MDMK are lambasting the Centre for forming the CWMA and the CWRA, farmers from Cauvery Delta region in the State met Nitin Gadkari, Union Water Resources Minister on Monday, thanked the NDA Government at the Centre for constituting the two Authorities and asked the Centre to initiate steps to interlink the peninsular Indian rivers.
This comes at a time when the opposition DMK and its allies describe the formation of the bodies as too little and too late.
Though the Edappady Palaniswamy—led AIADMK government nominated its representative to the CWMA, the Karnataka Government is yet to do so.
The entire farming community in the Delta districts of Tiruchirappalli, Tiruvarur Nagapattinam and Cuddalore represented by farmers Kattumannarkoil Kannan and five other leaders called on Gadkari and submitted a memorandum greeting the Centre for resolving the almost 100 years old Cauvery dispute.
But they pointed out that Cauvery being a water deficit river, the formation of CWMA would be beneficial only if there was sufficient rainfall during the monsoon months.
They asked the Union Government to initiate teps to inter link the peninsular Indian rivers which alone would resolve the water crisis faced by Tamil Nadu and other States. “River Cauvery is a deficit river so the available water cannot be shared without conflict even in future also.
The only solution to overcome future conflicts and improve irrigation is linking of southern peninsular rivers,” said the memorandum they submitted to the union minister.
Speaking to The Pioneer, Kannan said that they also requested the Union Minister to divert excess water from the west flowing rivers which are being drained out into the Arabian Sea to the East flowing rivers of Karnataka which would benefit all the stakeholders.
Quoting experts, Kannan said that on an average 2000 TMC (Thousand Million Cubic Feet) water is going waste into the Arabian Sea. “If we divert a portion of this water, the Cauvery River Water conflict could be resolved permanently,” he said.
The farmer leaders also asked the Union Government to pressurise Karnataka Government to nominate its representative to the CWMA at the earliest so that the body could meet before June 30. They pleaded with the Centre to ensure that Karnataka releases the monthly quota of water as directed by the Supreme Court.
“If Karnataka Government releases excess water above the stipulated quota it should be treated as flood water and Karnataka should not claim it in its account,” said the memorandum. This has been a grey area in the Cauvery Water Dispute Tribunal’s February 2007 verdict, according to the farmer leaders.