Ensure release Cauvery water as per SC order, Stalin urges Centre

Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Friday wrote to Union Minister for Jal Shakti Gajendra Singh Shekhawat requesting to take steps to advise the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) to make sure the realisation of water as per month-to-month schedule prescribed by the Supreme Court. As per the judgment, Tamil Nadu was to obtain 9.19 tmc of water in June and 31.24 tmc in July.

Since the Cauvery delta area didn’t profit a lot from the southwest monsoon, the kuruvai crop was depending on the continual release of water from the reservoir, he stated. “Any shortfall in release of water as per the schedule will severely impact the standing crop as well as commencing and continuing the samba cultivation, from next month,” Mr. Stalin contended in his letter. A duplicate of the letter was launched to the media.

Mr. Stalin, who visited the Cauvery delta area on Friday, stated the area was the “rice bowl” of Tamil Nadu and the Stanley reservoir at Mettur is the lifeline of the delta. “We depend on them to a great extent for our agricultural production. This year, our delta farmers are eagerly waiting to commence the cultivation of Kuruvai and Samba crops.”

The authorities was planning to open the reservoir for the delta irrigation on the standard date on June 12, contemplating the present ranges of storage on the reservoir and the IMD’s forecast of a standard southwest monsoon. “This is being done under the justified assumption that the water release in the Cauvery would be as per the monthly schedule fixed by the Supreme Court.”

The quantum of water acquired on the frequent border Billigundulu gauging the location of Central Water Commission needed to be realised as per the month-to-month schedule mounted by the Supreme Court for making certain the continual release of water to maintain the lakhs of acres of kuruvai paddy crop. “Considering that this issue impacts the lives of lakhs of our farmers, I look forward to your immediate intervention,” he added.