The decades-old Cauvery dispute should be resolved with innovative ideas
Misplaced priorities lead to subversion of economic and social development of a country as well as a State. Tamil Nadu has hundreds of woes that need urgent intervention of the State administration and, that too, on a war footing. Non-availability of water for irrigation is converting the fertile Cauvery Delta region (the districts of Tiruchirappalli. Thiruvarur, Thanjavur, Nagapattinam and part of Cuddalore) into a desert. This region is the food basket of Tamil Nadu as the five lakh farmers here help the State meet its rice requirement. If water from the Cauvery fails to reach the delta region, the farming operations would halt and the rhythm of development would suffer a setback. The river, though originating in Karnataka, is the lifeline of Tamil Nadu. Though the Cauvery River Water Disputes Tribunal and the Supreme Court have set up the quantum of water to be released by Karnataka to Tamil Nadu, most of the time the latter ends up at the mercy of Karnataka. One cannot blame Karnataka because it has to meet the drinking water and irrigational needs of the State’s population also. If the south-west monsoon fails, Karnataka gets a cold and Tamil Nadu starts sneezing.
Though there are enough means to address the issue, no Government seems to pay heed. One of the solutions is to link the Cauvery with the Godavari and transfer the surplus water to Tamil Nadu through a series of canals. Nitin Gadkari, during his tenure in the Ministry of Water Resources, had assured Tamil Nadu that he would implement the project. But he was shifted out while the Tamil Nadu Government did not take his advice seriously. Recently, all major political parties in Tamil Nadu met under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Stalin and passed a resolution asking the Union Government not to allow Karnataka to build a dam at Mekedatu across the Cauvery. It is time for Tamil Nadu to come out of this “resolution syndrome” and launch its own initiative to resolve the water crisis. The State could build desalination plants along its coastline which would produce more water than it needs. Stalin should seek help from the National Institute of Ocean Technology and the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research; two elite research institutes in Chennai that have developed the technology for desalination of seawater. He needs to open a fresh chapter in the State’s development.