Puducherry Cauvery Committee for separate agreement with TN

Puducherry, Feb 6 (UNI) The Puducherry Cauvery Delta Farmers Legal Action Committee has urged the Puducherry administration to enter into a separate agreement with the Tamil Nadu Government on the time and quantity of water to be released for the Karaikal region of the Union Territory.

Welcoming the final award of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal announcing seven tmc ft of water for Puducherry, Mr S P Selvashanmugham, President of the Committee and Convenor of the Karaikal struggle group in a statement yesterday said the Karaikal region with 30,000 acres of cultivatable land was getting water through seven tributaries of Cauvery.

Out of 30,000 acres, 20,000 were raised with short-term Kuruvai paddy cultivation till 1980. After the dispute over Cauvery water, Kuruvai crop was abandoned and samba taken up, depending upon the north-east monsoon, he added.

Mr Selvashanmugham demanded that 75 per cent of the awarded water be released between June and October every year to enable taking up Kuruvai and Samba crops in time.

He also demanded that both Tamil Nadu and Puducherry Governments should constitute Inter-state Committees to ensure the water supply and added that the Puducherry administration should Convene a meeting of all Farmers Associations in Karaikal to hear their views about the sharing of water.

Meanwhile, Puducherry Chief Minister N Rangasamy lauded the final award and said that Puducherry would be getting seven TMC ft of water, instead of the six TMC, hitherto sanctioned.

UNI