The Supreme Court’s direction to Karnataka to release 9,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu under distress sharing formula from September 20 to October 15 has left farmers, Kannada activists, political parties and people in the Cauvery basin in a quandary.
The judgment has rubbed salt on the wound of the farmers who are already worried over the release of 9,000 cusecs from September 10 to 19, which reduced Kabini reservoir level to 2,274 ft from 2,284 ft following poor rains in Wayanad district of Kerala.
The SC judgment has shifted the focus on KRS and Hemavathi reservoirs as the farmers fear that the government may release water from these reservoirs too. The water level in the KRS reservoir is at 109.51 ft as against 123 ft last year, and Hemavathi reservoir has 2,912.66 ft as against the maximum level of 2,922 ft.
The KRS and Hemavathi reservoirs have 50 tmc ft of water and Kabini has 11 tmc ft, including dead storage. The farmers say they need about 140 tmc ft of water now to save sugarcane and paddy crops covering over 4.5 lakh acres and meet drinking water needs in the region.
Any move to release water as per SC direction will take out 17.36 tmc ft of water from the reservoirs.
This will severely affect farmers and may also affect the drinking water needs in Mysore, Bangalore and many towns in the Cauvery basin as the total inflow into all the reservoirs in the basin is less than 7,000 cusecs. If there is no rain in the region in the next two days the situation will turn worse.
In the Cauvery catchment area, Karnataka receives a normal rainfall of 425.3 mm of rainfall between October and May.
Of this, 232.2 mm is between Oct and Dec, 72mm between Jan-April and about 121 mm in May.
Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha leader Nanjunde Gowda said the farmers would launch a stir to stop the release of water as they needed more than 150 tmc ft of water for irrigation and drinking purposes till June 2013.
‘Ministers, MPs Should Resign’ Cauvery River Protection Committee chairman G Made Gowda demanded Union ministers and MPs from the state to resign in support of agitation.
Gowda said he along with his supporters would sit in front of the sluice gates of the Kabini reservoir to stop officials from discharging water to Tamil Nadu.
“We will decide the next course of action based on CM’s decision,” he said.
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