Mysuru: The expert team deputed by Supreme Court to assess the water situation in Cauvery basin flung into action on October 8 by taking aerial surveys, visiting cultivated areas and meeting farmers and officials.
The team which arrived in KRS by two choppers assessed the ground situation in the dam site and collected all relevant details. The data includes rainfall statistics in the area and damage to crops due to deficient rainfall and also statistics on water storage in the dam during last five years.
Disclosing the details the central water commission chairman G S Jha who is also heading the team said, “The team will be surveying the Cauvery basin areas of Karnataka for 2 days. They will be meeting farmers and visiting the affected areas to know the requirement of water and the crop details. He also said the team will collect the crop samples (in reality the dried crops painted a grim picture during the team’s visit). The team will be meeting elected representatives including MP’s and MLA’s from the region before submitting a detailed report to the Supreme Court.”
The team comprises CWC members S Masood Hussian from New Delhi, KR Gupta from Hyderabad, Kerala Chief engineer Mahanudevan, Tamil Nadu chief secretary Prabhakar, R Subramaniam from Cauvery technical team, Chief engineer from Pondicherry P Swaminathan, Superintendent engineer Shanmukha Sundaram, State government’s secretary for water resources Rakesh Singh and irrigation board administrator Chikkarayappa were present during inspection of the area.
After visiting KRS the team headed towards KR pet. Last evening the team visited Mandya and collected paddy and sugarcane crop samples and interacted with farmers in the areas during the visit. Apart from Mandya the team visited Maddur and villages Pannedoddi, Haralakere, Doddarasinakere and Malavalli.
Farmers in affected areas expressed their grievances to the team.
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