Ryots say CM echoing K’taka stand on storage

The farmers unions pointed out that the Supreme Court had ordered the setting up of Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) before the onset of monsoon, but the Centre had not completed the process till now. Despite the onset of monsoon on May 29 itself, the state government had not taken efforts to speed up the process of CWMA and get water from Karnataka, the farmer leaders said.

Coordinator of Cauvery Rights Retrieval Committee P Maniarasan charged that Palaniswami is acting as the mouthpiece of Karnataka by saying that monsoon had failed this year. The Chief Minister should have released the details of water storage in the reservoirs in the neighbouring state.

Palaniswami should have come out with the details of the quantum of water that should have been released to Tamil Nadu till this time. But without saying this, the Chief Minister had repeated Karnataka’s version that there is no water in their dams, he said.

Even as per the statistics given by Karnataka government, the rainfall from January to May this year was higher than the average. For example, Mysore which usually receives 230 mm during this period had received 309 mm. In Mandya, the normal rainfall is 184 mm, but this year it had received 295 mm. Similarly, Chamarajanagar which gets a normal rainfall of 230 mm, had received 309 mm this year, Maniarasan said.

“Palaniswami should have noted this and sought Tamil Nadu’s share of water. But, he had overtaken Karnataka and said rains had failed this year, indicating that the state government had abandoned Kuruvai crop this year too.”

Leader of South Indian River Water Linking Association Ayyakannu held a protest shaving their heads at Chepauk in Chennai on Saturday to express their disappointment. Coordinator of Federation of All Tamil Nadu Farmers Unions PR Pandian has announced a fast in Tiruvarur on June 12, but police had denied permission to it. He said that it only showed that the government had decided to suppress the protests forcibly.