Chennai: Work on major river linking projects, including the one that would transfer surplus water from Godavari to Cauvery is underway.
The effort is estimated to cost about Rs 50,000 crore and will bring nearly 1100 tmc feet of surplus water from Godavari to Cauvery benefiting Tamilnadu substantially, said Governor Banwarilal Purohit.
Speaking at the launch of the book River Cauvery the most revered yet the most battled (r)ed organised by Tamilnadu Cauvery Delta Farmers Welfare Association at T Nagar, Saturday, he said the Brahmaputra and Ganga, Mahanadi, Godavari and the west flowing rivers originating in the western ghats are surplus in water resources.
“If we can build storage reservoirs on these rivers and connect them to other parts of the country, regional imbalances could be reduced significantly and benefits gained by way of additional irrigation, hydropower generation, navigational facilities,” he said.
The Governor said river Cauvery also known as Ponni or the golden river is the largest river of Tamilnadu. Originating in the foothills of Western Ghats at Talakaveri, the river flows eastwards across the southern Deccan plateau joining the Bay of Bengal at Poompuhar in the Nagapattinam district. The Cauvery delta forms one of the most fertile regions in the country, he said.
The river basin covers the three States – Tamilnadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Puducherry. The Cauvery is a multi State river. Agreements executed between the Government of Madras and the kingdom of Mysore upto the year 1924 governed the various aspects of dam construction, monitoring of flow in the river, and the shares of the parties with regard to the available water, he said.
Disputes started surfacing when State Governments started asserting for additional construction of dams to expand the area covered by irrigation.
Accordingly when the dispute arose over the sharing of Cauvery Water between the Governments of Tamilnadu and Karnataka, the Government of Tamilnadu approached the Centre for the setting up of a Tribunal.
The proceedings before the Tribunal and the Supreme Court went on for almost 30 years after which the award on the sharing of water among the riparian territories of Tamilnadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Pondicherry was notified in the Gazette. This was subsequently approved by the Supreme Court with some minor changes in the States respective shares.
“Today we are at the stage of handholding and seeing through to success the mechanism for ensuring proper implementation of judicial directions. It is necessary as law abiding citizens for all stakeholders to adhere to the directions of the apex court of the land in letter and spirit. It is this spirit which will enable the building up of trust and confidence and result in the smooth operation of the mechanism that will ensure appropriate distribution of waters among the three States and the Union territory in a lawful and orderly manner,” the Governor said.
The book written by K V Kannan extensively covers the literary, cultural and utilitarian aspects of the river and specially focuses on the proceedings that took place in the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal and the Supreme Court of India.
Younger potiff of the Dharmapura Adheenam, Masilamani Desika Gnanasambandha Swamigal, senior BJP leader L Ganesan, Tamilnadu Cauvery Delta Farmers Welfare Association general secretary S Renganathan are among those participated.