Search the Internet          Tips

'Karnataka farmers to lose Rs1500 crore'

Farmers will lose Rs1500 crore due to the Karnataka government's decision to release to Tamil Nadu water from the Krishna Raja Sagar reservoir, the Cauvery River Protection Committee said on Monday.

With only 17tmcft [thousand million cubic feet] of water left in the reservoir, 1.08 hectare of standing crops needs to be irrigated for another six months, it said in a statement.

The drinking water needs of Bangalore and Mysore also need to be fulfilled, it said, adding for this purpose at least 14tmcft of water is needed.

It said, "The rate of evaporation will be more during summer, which means at least 5tmcft of water will be lost. All this means that we will be left with no water for drinking purpose also.

"The state is not expected to receive rains till June next year... we are without rains for the six months."

Members of the committee visited the reservoir to assess the level of water and said even during more severe crises, the previous governments had not released so much water to Tamil Nadu.

The committee said, "This is a crime against the farmers. But still the government is not coming up with any statistics. It has not told us how much water is left and how much water is needed for the standing crops... How much inflow they expect in the coming days?"

The government must answer all these questions and come up with a white paper on the issue, the committee said.

"It has to convince us that it is going to protect the interest of farmers if they face loss because of non-availability of water in the reservoir," it said.

The Cauvery Water Dispute: The Complete Coverage

Back to top

Tell us what you think of this report