After all-party meeting, Karnataka decides not to release water to Tamil Nadu

BENGALURU: The Karnataka government has decided not to release Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu after the Cauvery Water Regulatory Commission (CWRC) directed it to release 5,000 cusecs every day for the next 15 days from today.

After chairing a hurriedly convened all-party meeting, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said, “We held a meeting with officials and the advocate general on Tuesday night and decided to call an all-party meeting. There was a huge deficit in rainfall in August and there is not water in our reservoirs. We are in no position to release water to Tamil Nadu”, he said.

The CM said, “As of September 11, we have released 37.7 tmcft of water to the neighbouring state by stopping water for irrigation for our crops. We need 70 tmcft for irrigation, 33 tmcft for drinking purposes and 3 tmcft for industries, totalling 106 tmcft, but we have only 53 tmcft of water. We are not in a position to release water as per the Supreme Court directive. The CWRC had directed us to release 5,000 cusecs, so we will file an appeal stating that we cannot release water and request the commission to revise its order.

“We will also apprise the Supreme Court about the prevailing situation. We don’t have enough water to release to Tamil Nadu. Deputy CM D K Shivakumar will leave for Delhi today and hold discussions with our legal team about the future course of action”, he added.

Siddaramaiah said he will write again to the Prime Minister on taking an all-party delegation to Delhi. “We had written earlier seeking an appointment with the PM, but it was not given. We will write to the Centre again and the BJP MPs have said they will support the government”, he said.

On former CM Basavaraj Bommai’s suggestion that he should speak to his TN counterpart M K Stalin, Siddaramaiah said, “The orders to release water were issued by the Supreme Court and the CWRC and it won’t help if I talk to Stalin. But we will place the suggestion before our legal team and discuss the probable outcomes”.

Earlier, Deputy CM and Water Resources Minister D K Shivakumar said the state is facing a difficult situation and it cannot release water to the neighbouring state. “The all-party meeting was called in a hurry and some of the leader could not attend due to prior engagements. In the last 123 years, the state has received the least rain for the month of August this year. In normal years, we have to release 90.8 tmcft of water to Tamil Nadu and so far, we have released 37.71 tmcft of water. The opposition parties have assured their support to the government”, he said.

Regarding Mandya MP Sumalatha Ambareesh’s allegation that the Water Resources minister had not visited KRS dam near Srirangapatna, Shivakumar retorted, “I have the same political blood and I grew up there, we know everything. Why only visit, I can even sleep there. She need not worry. Even I know politics, but this is not the time for it”.