Cauvery Authority should prevail upon Karnataka — TN

Rejecting Karnataka’s claim that it was in no position to release water, he said there was adequate storage in Karnataka reservoirs to make good the total deficit of 30.12 TMC ft due at Mettur since August.

Durai Murugan, who visited the tail-end areas along with two other Ministers and officials over the last two days, said the present storage at Mettur reservoir would be used in a judicious manner so that it could last till about October 5.

However, only the arrival of rains and regular release of water from Karnataka would constitute a real solution to the grave problem faced by farmers in the delta districts, the Minister said.

Describing the situation as “grave”, Durai Murugan said that the inflow at Mettur today was 128 cusecs, whereas the outflow had been raised from 15,000 to 17,000 cusecs. The water level stood at 50.7 feet (full level 120 ft), while the storage was 18 TMC ft as against full storage of 93.97 TMC ft.

By the time the water reached the Grand Anicut, it might come down to just 13,300 cusecs normally, but with special conservation measures, the Government could ensure the flow at 16,000 cusecs there. The discharge would be maintained at 8,500 cusecs from Vennar, 5,000 cusecs from Cauvery and 2000 cusecs from the Grand Anicut canal, he said.

Night patrolling has been introduced to prevent the water from being diverted along the way, and a contingent of 60 engineers from other districts had been sent to Thanjavur district to regulate the flow of water to the tail-end areas.

Durai Murugan said the immediate problem before Tamil Nadu was to save the standing kuruvai crops and samba (long term paddy crop) nurseries for transplantation from withering due to lack of water.