A view of the Cauvery river
| Photo Credit: SRIRAM MA
Flagging the deficit in receiving its due share of Cauvery water for the Karaikal region for June and July, the Puducherry government has urged the Cauvery Water Management Authority to ensure that the Union Territory is given its fair quantum of water, as stipulated by the order of the Supreme Court.
According to an official release from the office of the Public Works Department (PWD) Minister K. Lakshminarayanan, officials who participated in the recently-held 22nd meeting of the Authority in Delhi, highlighted the fact that the cumulative release of Cauvery water for June and July was only 0.18 tmcft (thousand million cubic feet) against the allotment of 0.25 tmcft, indicating a deficit of 0.06 Tmcft, or a 27.6% shortfall.
Clocking the flow of Cauvery water during this month (as of August 7, 2023) at 0.08 Tmcft, and the cumulative flow till that date at 0.26 Tmcft, the government represented that this was against the apportioned Cauvery water requirement for August, which is 1.05 Tmcft.
The situation of water realisation for Karaikal region between August 7 to 11 was zero, the government stated.
The UT urged the Authority to direct the basin States to release adequate water to meet the needs of Karaikal, highlighting the fact that the region was the main source of rice cultivation in the U.T. and farmers who were dependent on Cauvery water would be deprived for kuruvai crop season.
Distress year sharing
On sharing of Cauvery waters during a distress year, it was stated that Puducherry had always been insisting that a formula for pro-rata sharing be evolved by the Authority for a distress year, with due share to the Union Territory.
Among the issues taken up at the meeting was the relocation of the river water level gauge and discharge (G&D) sites of the Central Water Commission, to the entry points of Karaikal region to ensure exact/realistic and actual assessment of Cauvery water realisation of 7 TMC of water — pertaining to shifting the existing mechanisms at Peralam and Thengudi to new locations at Kannapur and Melapolagam respectively.
In this connection, the Superintending Engineer (C) Cauvery & Southern Rivers Organisation, of the CWC has proposed a joint inspection during the third week of August involving officers from CWRC, governments of Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and CWC to finalise the intended land to be allocated for CWC site offices.
The UT has assured the Authority of its full cooperation in this matter and sought a speedy process of carrying out the shifting of G&D sites on distributary rivers, to sites closer to the Karaikal region.