Down south, some need water, many lives lost to floods
S Chellappan, 68, faces losses for the third year in a row for want of water to irrigate his two-acre farm at Nagudi in Tamil Nadu’s Pudukkottai district.
Pudukkottai is not alone. Out of the 95 districts of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, around half (47) have received deficient rainfall. A few hundred kilometres away in Kerala, excess rainfall has caused the worst floods in nearly 100 years. Over 300 people have been killed while around 10 lakh people have been displaced.
“It is always a battle to receive water from the Grand Anicut canal as we are at the tail-end. Most people in the village gave up on Kuruvai (short-term) cultivation in the June as a result. We were hopeful about Samba (rice cultivation that happens from August) this time as there was a good rainfall in Coorg, where the Cauvery River originates. However, our expectations have not been realised,” said Chellappan.
At least 1.3 million acres of agricultural land in eastern Tamil Nadu continues to be parched even as rivers in the state have been in spate and dams full. Experts put the blame on the failure of infrastructure in ensuring better utilisation of water.
Cauvery Delta Farmers’ Association secretary Mannargudi S Ranganathan said the state failed to remove silt from canals and strengthen the river banks since 2008. “It has also failed to maintain dams. This is the reason we are facing the issue now,” he said.
The public works department had sent a proposal to both the Centre and the state government to strengthen and restructure the Anicut canal, which provides water to Chellappan’s village, at an estimated cost of ~2,264 crore.
But the work could not start because the state has not sanctioned the initial funds even though the Centre accepted the proposal, a PWD official said on the condition of anonymity.
Tamil Nadu food minister R Kamaraj claimed the de-silting works were executed and accused the opposition of levelling baseless allegations.
In neighbouring Karnataka, the southern, coastal and hilly regions have received good rainfall. But the northern region has not had much rain, resulting in lower sowing in Kharif season.
In southern Karnataka, Kodagu district recorded very heavy rainfall that resulted in landslides and death of 17 people.
In Andhra Pradesh, six of the 13 districts are facing a droughtlike situation. On the other hand, as many as 120 mandals in Srikakulam, East and West Godavari districts have had excess rainfall, and crops worth ~600 crore have been lost because of the flooding.
CHENNAI/BENGALURU/HYDERABAD: