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For Tamil Nadu farmers, Cauvery Management Board is the only solution
All political parties and farmers’ organisations in the state have been persistently demanding the formation of Cauvery Management Board for more than a decade. The call has only grown louder after the Supreme Court’s final verdict on the dispute
By
migrator
migrator
Chennai
Deprived of their rightful share of Cauvery river water for the last five decades, farmers in Tamil Nadu are banking all their hopes on the formation of the autonomous Cauvery Management Board without any further delay. For them, an independent board is the only way to ensure their full share of water, on time, which the earlier organisations like Cauvery River Authority and Cauvery Technical Cell could not deliver.
For instance, in 2016-17, the state received only 69.5 thousand million cubic (TMC) feet, as against the 192 TMC that it should have received. Even in cases where the annual quantum looks reasonable at first glance, farmers point out that the water is never released during the crucial period of cultivation, but only after October – when it is least required as Tamil Nadu receives it monsoon during that period.
This is where the Cauvery Management Board and Cauvery Regulation Committee, ordered by the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal and upheld by the Supreme Court, will play an important role. They are different from the earlier bodies, as they have more powers to ensure release of water as scheduled.
The tribunal had in 2007 mandated the establishment of the board to ensure implementation of its final order. The Supreme Court, too, had upheld the tribunal order, even as it reduced Tamil Nadu’s water share by 14.75 thousand million cubic.
What makes it crucial for the farmers here is, when a state does not cooperate, the board has the powers to step in. To implement the tribunal’s order, it can enter any land or property where hydraulic structure operated and maintained by any agency in the Cauvery basin, with the assistance of the Central government. The power to supervise and ensure water release is the key factor that makes Tamil Nadu farmers view the board as a practical solution to decades of suffering.
The board has to set up a well-designed communication network in the Cauvery basin and establish additional gauging stations at feasible sites. Through the regulation committee, the board will monitor the available storage position and rainfall trend.
As per the tribunal’s stipulation, six members, with equal powers, shall form quorum at the board’s meetings. The concurrence of the majority is necessary for the transaction of the business of the board.
Efforts in the past: There has been attempts earlier to set up an autonomous body to manage the river water. In 1997, the Union government proposed setting up a Cauvery River Authority which was to be vested with far-reaching powers to ensure that tribunal’s interim order was implemented. It even had powers to take over dams if the interim order was not honoured – a crisis that Tamil Nadu has faced often.
However, the proposal ran into rough weather, with Karnataka raising strong objections. The state had always been maintaining that the interim order was intrinsically flawed as it had no scientific basis. The Centre then made several modifications, greatly reducing the executive powers of the Authority – including, most importantly, the power to take over dams.
Two new bodies were set up under the new proposal – Cauvery River Authority and Cauvery Monitoring Committee. The Authority would consist of the Prime Minister and Chief Ministers of the four states. On the other hand, the monitoring committee was an expert body consisting of engineers and officials who would take stock of ‘ground realities’ and report to the government. However, for the farmers of Tamil Nadu, the high-level authority and committee were ineffectual in bringing water; water flowed into the state only when there were heavy rains in Karnataka.
Who will be part of the board?
The Cauvery Management Board will have a full-time chairman, who must be an irrigation engineer in the rank of chief engineer, with at least 20 years of experience. One of the two full-time members must be an irrigation engineer not below the rank of chief engineer. The person should have not less than 15 years of field experience in the operation of reservoirs, and management, maintenance and operation of large irrigation projects. The second member must be a reputed expert in Agronomy, with 15 years’ field experience. The tenure of the chairman and the two members will be three years and could be extended to five years. Besides these three non-partisan members, the board will also have part-time representatives: two from the Centre, and a representative each nominated by the state governments of Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.
JUDGMENTS ON CAUVERY DISPUTE
- The Supreme Court directed the Centre to form the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal in May 1990.
- The tribunal in its interim direction in June 1991 announced an allocation of 205 tmc for Tamil Nadu.
- The tribunal in its final judgment reduced Tamil Nadu’s share from 205 tmc to 192 tmc in its verdict on Feb 5, 2007.
- In February 2013, the Supreme Court upheld the plea by Tamil Nadu government and directed the Centre to notify the final award of the tribunal in the gazette.
- In its final verdict on the appeals against the tribunal’s order, the Supreme Court upheld the tribunal verdict with modifications in the quantum of water to Tamil Nadu, reducing its share further to 177.5 tmc.
WATER RELEASED BY KARNATAKA
- 2014-15 229.5 tmc
- 2015-16 156.38 tmc
- 2016-17 69.5 tmc
During these years, Karnataka should have given 192 TMC of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu
WATER RELEASED FROM METTUR DAM FOR IRRIGATION
- 2014-15 149.2 tmc
- 2015-16 120.18 tmc
- 2016-17 54.38 tmc
Mettur dam has been missing its release date of June 12 continuously over the past several years
CAUVERY DELTA CULTIVATION ACREAGE:
- Kuruvai area shrunk from 5 lakh acre to now 1.5 lakh acre
- Samba area from 16 acre and to 12 lakh acre
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