Cauvery dispute hurts business, tourism in Karnataka, TN

The cauvery dispute has begun to hurt both Karnataka and Tamil Nadu economically.

Tourist arrivals in Mysuru has reduced by more than half since violence broke early this month protesting a Supreme Court directive to release water to its neighbour from the drought it Cauvery river. As things stand, the situation is not expected to become better over the next week during Dasara, where usually millions throng to the city to watch the state festival.

Hotels and resorts, including the famous Jungle Lodges and Resorts at Kabini have already seen cancellations of bookings from tourists, deferring their travel plans to the region.

"The cancellations have mainly been from Tamil Nadu. People from Kerala and Karnataka have not cancelled," said Priyank Kharge, Karnataka's tourism minister. " Tourism is very important this year due to the low rainfall. It can create alternative job opportunities for people. Be it a small balloon vendor or a peanut seller. A lot of business is created during a festive season".

Bengaluru, Mandya and Mysuru, the three districts in South Karnataka reap the benefits of Cauvery that originates in Kodagu. Weak Southwest monsoon has resulted in four reservoirs that store the Cauvery water being half empty. Karnataka is bound by the Cauvery water tribunal order, which the state has opposed, to release water to the lower riparian states as per its directive even during a distress year.

On Tuesday, Supreme Court directed Karnataka to release 6000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu for three days, continuing its earlier orders to share the river water to save standing Samba crops in the neighbouring state.

Karnataka's legislature last week passed a resolution to share water only for drinking purposes.

Since Bengaluru and Mandya saw violence on September 12 that saw few hundred Tamil Nadu registered vehicles vandalised by protesters, both states have suspended public transport between them.

"After, the violence, there is sense of fear. With things still not stabilized, the cancellations continue and the number of tourists keep reducing. It will take at least one year for the tourism to revive in Mysuru," says Jaykumar, president of Mysuru Travel Agents Association. "Until and unless the state government does not declare karnataka a 'bandh mukht' state nothing can be done. The cauvery issue has lead to massive losses for us."

Echoes Narayana Gowda the president of hotels association of Mysuru. ""The charm of the festivities is the people flocking from across the world to see it. It is not just Tamil Nadu but from everywhere people are cancelling the bookings due to fear," he says. "People feel if there is a bandh than they will just lose days and do not wish to lose any holiday".

In Hosur, the industrial town that borders Bengaluru, people walk several kilometers across the border to take transport to reach places in Tamil Nadu. The manufacturing industry in Coimbatore, which is the engineering hub of South India, has always relied on the raw materials transported through Karnataka.

According J James, president of Tamil Nadu Association of Cottage and Micro Enterprises, Coimbatore, the situation is grave. The non arrival of raw materials and resulting lack of work in the manufacturing unit is resulting around Rs 150 crore a day to the industry in Coimbatore, including labour cost and others. The orders committed already are getting delayed and the finished products are held up in the factories, since it cannot be moved to the customers, resulting in further loss.

"If the issue is not addressed now, the situation will be really bad. The central government has to involve in the issue and bring this to an end," said James. There are around 40,000 micro, small and medium scale units in Coimbatore.

The State Lorry Owners' Federation - Tamil Nadu, the organisation of lorry owners from Namakkal, has said that almost 16 days the business has been affected and the loss could be over Rs 1000 crore per day.