Farmers up in arms as Karnataka govt increases release of Cauvery water to TN

MANDYA: The Karnataka government has increased the release of water to Tamil Nadu ahead the Supreme Court verdict, leading to protests from farmers.

On Wednesday, 9,136 cusecs of water was released and this was increased to 13,473 cusecs on Thursday. Farmers, led by independent MLA Darshan Puttannaiah, staged a protest at the main entrance of the Krishnaraja Sagar (KRS) Dam and raised slogans against the state government for releasing water even before the Supreme Court pronounced its verdict.

Farmers staged a protest at the entrance of KRS dam.

The protesting farmers demanded that the state government should immediately stop release of water to Tamil Nadu and apprise the court of the prevailing situation. Insisting that the government should protect the interest of state farmers, they said release of water can lead to drinking water shortage. “As it is, the monsoon rains have failed and now, the government is playing with the lives of farmers”, they said.

Independent MLA Darshan Puttannaiah took the officials of the Cauvery Neeravari Nigam Ltd to task for releasing Cauvery water.

The farmers took the Cauvery Neeravari Nigam Exective Engineer Jayanth and other officials to task questioning whether they had not come up with a distress formula. To this, the officials replied that they were releasing wter as per the Cauvery Water Commission guidelines which state that 30 per cent of the monsoon inflow has to be released. “Tamil Nadu has approached the Supreme Court and hence, we are releasing water”, Jayanth told the farmers.

Angered by his response, the farmers questioned if the state government had drawn up a distress formula and if it had prepared a report on how much water can be released if there is less storage in the dam. The executive engineer then promised to present their grievances before the government and called the secretary to the Water Resources Department.

Darshan Puttannaiah fired a volley of questions at the secretary and asked on what basis Tamil Nadu is seeking release of 10,000 cusecs of water and whether this was under the distress formula.

Darshan Puttannaiah later said that the Supreme Court has directed the states to follow the distress formula and pointed out that the standing crop in the Cauvery basin will be affected. “I will discuss the issue with the CM. Already, the rains have reduced and there is less inflow at the dam”, he pointed out.

Former CM Basavaraj Bommai slammed the Congress government for releasing water to Tamil Nadu.

Reacting to the issue in Bengaluru, former BJP Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said, “The tribunal has already passed orders on how much water has to be released. Tamil Nadu farmers have to cultivate kuruvai crop in 1,80,000 hectares and 32 tmcft of water has to be released. This year, the Tamil Nadu farmers have cultivated about 4 lakh hectares and have used 60 tmcft of water. Karnataka officials should have opposed this at the Cauvery Water Management Board, but they did not and the government too did not pay attention”.

Further, he said, “What Tamil Nadu is demanding is in fact the share of water of our farmers. The state government did not convene a meeting on releasing water to our farmers and delayed release of water. This is injustice to the farmers of the Cauvery basin and there is drinking water problem in Bengaluru and other cities and villages. Despite the monsoon waning, the Congress government is adamant on releasing 10 tmcft of water to Tamil Nadu”.

“The Chief Minister says water won’t be released, but the Deputy CM says it’s not in his hands and that they will go by what the legal advisors say. The Congress government has been irresponsible and has sacrificed the interests of the state farmers. The government is letting go of our rights over the water to cover up for their misdeeds. If farmers themselves have to go to the Supreme Court, then why was this government elected?” he questioned.