All-party meeting, a ray of hope for Mandya farmers

CM has called meeting of MPs, MLAs of Cauvery basin on Aug 14

With an all-party meeting to discuss Cauvery issue scheduled for August 14, the farmers and the ryot outfits are hoping that the announcement will be in favour of the agrarian community.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has convened an all-party meeting in Bengaluru on August 14 to hold discussions on sharing water from the four reservoirs in Cauvery basin.

The MPs and MLAs of Mandya, Mysuru and Chamarajanagar districts will attend the meeting. The people of the region are hoping that water from the KRS will flow into Visvesvaraya Canal soon.

Congress district unit president M S Atmananda said, he is confident that the CM would take a favourable decision.

Water level

The water level at Krishnaraja Sagar (KRS) reservoir is 92 feet, while it was 97.42 feet in the corresponding day, last year. It may be mentioned that in 2016, Cauvery Irrigation Consultative Committee meeting was held on June 30 and water flowed into Visvesvaraya canal in July.

“The government had also issued a time-table on releasing water in rotation basis up to December. But, due to severe drought, it stopped releasing water into canals in November.

“As a result, the farmers suffered huge crop loss in rabi season. If the government had released water for one more instalment, the farmers would have harvested huge quantity of paddy. But, the government released water to solve the drinking water problems of the Bengaluru city while meting out injustice to the farmers of the region, said, Shambunahalli Suresh,” district president, Raitha Sangha.

Farmer leader E Basavaraju said that the water level in the KRS dam would have reached the 100-feet mark by now if water was not released to Tamil Nadu.

Srirangapatna MLA Ram- esh Bandisiddegwoda said since an all-party meeting has been covened there is no need to hold Cauvery Irrigation Consultative Committee meeting again. The chief minister’s decision is final, Basavaraju added.

Preparatory meet

In view of the all-party meeting on August 14, all the legislators and MPs of Cauvery basin is holding a preparatory meeting to discuss the issue on August 9, in Mandya. MP C S Puttaraju has warned of intensified protests in the district if the chief minister fails to take a favourable decision on August 14.