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Coimbatore
Farmers welcome SC orders on Cauvery water
September 6, 2016
Chennai: The Supreme Court’s verdict, directing the Karnataka state government to release 15,000 cusecs of Cauvery water each day to Tamil Nadu for the next 10 days to save the Samba crop in the delta districts, was welcomed by the farmers in the delta districts. The farmers hail it as victory of the Jayalalithaa government.
Speaking to the media, PR Pandiyan, the president of the All-India Farmers Association, said that the verdict came at the right juncture as they “remained helpless without having adequate water for irrigation.” “Now, we can use it to save our short-term crop.
However, the amount of water asked to be released in the 10-day span will not be sufficient to irrigate the crops.
The supervisory committee has to take it to the notice of the Central government and the Supreme Court to increase the amount of water released,” he said.
The case was filed by the Tamil Nadu government in July. The Tamil Nadu government, in its plea, had sought a direction to Karnataka to release 50.52 tmc feet of Cauvery water to save 40,000 acres of samba crop this season.
The Supreme Court bench, comprising Justices Dipak Misra and UU Lalit, said, “We think it’s appropriate to direct Karnataka to release 15,000 cusecs of water per day for 10 days.” The apex court also directed Tamil Nadu to approach the supervisory committee within three days for the release of Cauvery water as per the final order of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal.
Although the farmers feel that the verdict came in a little late, they are confident that the Samba crop can still be saved.
Nallasamy, the secretary of the Tamil Nadu Farmers Associations Federation, too has welcomed the Supreme Court verdict. “Presently, Mettur dam has a storage of 36 tmc ft and an addition of 12 tmc ft of water from Karnataka will certainly help in saving our crops,” he said.
Lauding the Tamil Nadu government, he said that the time was right to tighten the government’s hold “against the Centre and the supervisory committee for the livelihood of the people dependent on farming.”
