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Radha Venkatesan
CHENNAI, Sept 9: Despite agreeing to the new Cauvery accord, Karnataka has failed to release the stipulated quantum of water to Tamil Nadu for the month of August -- a crucial month for farmers in the State.
According to the Tamil Nadu PWD department's data sheet on inflows into the Mettur reservoir, Karnataka has released only 40.73 tmc ft as against the 54.72 tmc ft prescribed by the Tribunal for the month of August -- a whopping deficit of 14.72 tmc of water. This despite the four reservoirs of Karnataka, including Kabini and Krishna Raja Sagar, almost brimming with heavy rainfalls in the catchment areas last month.
While the water level in Krishnaraja Sagar resevior stood at 123.75 ft against its maximum storage level of 124.80 ft on Tuesday, Kabini reservoir is just half a feet away from becoming full.
Highly-placed sources told The Indian Express that the Tamil Nadu Government has written to the Secretary, Union Water Resources Ministry, who is also the secretary of the Cauvery River Authority formed under the Cauvery Water Scheme, 1998, about the deficit in discharge for August. However, the State Government has not received any response from the Secretary of the authority as yet.
Karnataka's failure to discharge Tamil Nadu's full share has prompted experts on Cauvery issue to question the accord itself. They argue that the deficit in the first month of the accord itself has only exposed the loopholes in the settlement.
Experts ask why Tamil Nadu has not called a meeting of the authority when Karnataka has violated the interim award in the first month of the accord itself. Also, they question why the monitoring committee set up under the Cauvery scheme 1998, has not kept tabs on the daily discharge of water from Karnataka to Tamil Nadu.
``Every drop of water matters for the Cauvery delta farmers as both the Kuruvai and Samba crop depend on the discharge from Mettur between June and September,'' they say.
Tamil Nadu PWD department officials say even the quantum received in August this year was only the surpluses from Kabini and other reservoirs. ``Even after the accord, they are not giving us our due share when we need (particularly between June and September for both the Kuruvai harvests and Samba crops) but release water only if they have surplusses,'' officials say.
While the Tribunal in its interim award has clearly specified the quantum of water to be discharged by Karnataka to Tamil Nadu on a monthly basis, Karnataka has never fully complied with the award. Though the annual dishcarge from Karnataka has always been far in excess of the 205 tmc ft. stipulated by the Tribunal, except in 1995, the trouble lies in the timing of the release. In the crucial June-September agricultural season, Tamil Nadu, as per the interim award should get a total of 137 tmc ft, but so far this year, it has received just about 75 tmc ft.
Strangely enough, when the much-touted tripartite accord was not in place, last year the inflow into the Mettur reservoirs between June and September was a little over two tmc ft.in excess of the interim award.
In fact, in August last year, Tamil Nadu received as much as 88.10 tmc ft. while the interim award had prescribed just 54.72 tmc ft..
Now, in the post-accord era, the Mettur inflow records for August shows a 14 tmc deficit. ``This may be just the beginning of another round of discord,'' warn experts. But only the inflows into Mettur in the next four crucial months will bare the real contours of the historic Cauvery accord.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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