Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has instructed the Water Resources Department officials to prioritise the welfare of Karnataka farmers from the Cauvery water.
Chairing a Karnataka Development Programme (KDP) meeting in Mysuru on Monday, August 28, Mr. Siddaramaiah expressed his disapproval with the officials for adopting the “on and off” system, which entails release of water from the reservoirs to irrigation canals for 15 days while stopping the same for the next 15 days, in the absence of a “distress formula”.
Mr. Siddaramaiah’s remarks come after days of continued protests by farmers across Cauvery basin in Karnataka over release of water to Tamil Nadu amid their concerns over plummeting storage levels in the reservoirs.
Emphasising the need to protect the crops of Karnataka’s farmers by releasing sufficient water, Mr. Siddaramaiah pointed out that the State was obliged to release 177.25 tmc feet of water to Tamil Nadu in a “normal year”.
“There is no order issued to the effect that our farmers should be treated unfairly and Cauvery water should be released to Tamil Nadu. We should protect our crops and drinking water. The distress relief formula is yet to be worked out,” he said.
He directed the engineers of the Water Resources Department to ensure that the farmers at the tail-end of the irrigation canals received water. He asked the engineers to remove the silt in the canals before releasing the water. “Do not remove the silt after releasing the water,” he said.
Agriculture
While gathering information from Agriculture Department officials during the KDP meeting, Mr. Siddaramaiah directed the officials to act liberally in cases of farmers’ suicides.
Cautioning the officials that the government will not tolerate any delay in providing compensation, he informed the Deputy Commissioner that the government will provide money and the compensation should reach the next of kin of the suicide victims without delay.
He also emphasised the need for ascertaining the actual facts and reasons for crop loss and farmers’ suicides. “In case of suicide due to official negligence, it should also be mentioned,” he said, while asking officials to clearly identify and record the actual facts behind farmers’ suicides.
He said the Agriculture Department officials should not sit back and think that their responsibility was over after distribution of seeds to the farmers. “If there is a crop loss due to any reason, there should be a second round of seed distribution,” he said while warning that action will be taken against officials if there were complaints of shortage of seeds or fertilizers in the district.
Pointing out that farmers in the State were in trouble due to the failure of monsoon, Mr. Siddaramaiah asked the officials to go to the villages, treat the farmers with respect, listen to their woes and resolve them. Apart from conducting field visits, the officials should write a diary on a daily basis, he said.
Minister for Social Welfare H.C. Mahadevappa, who is also the Minister in charge of Mysuru district, Pratap Simha, MP; MLAs and MLCs, besides Deputy Commissioner K.V. Rajendra and officials of the district administration were in attendance at the KDP meeting, which was the first to be chaired by Mr. Siddaramaiah during his second term as Chief Minister of Karnataka.
