Cauvery water dispute: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday said the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee (CWRC) directive to release water to Tamil Nadu will be challenged in the Supreme Court. The committee has directed Karnataka to release water at the rate of 3,000 cubic feet per second (cusec) to neighboring Tamil Nadu between September 28 and October 15.
Siddaramaiah said that he has spoken to the state’s legal team and it has advised to challenge this direction in the Supreme Court. “We are challenging the regulation committee order in the Supreme Court,” he told reporters at Male Mahadeshwar Hills in this district. We don’t have enough water to supply.
Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar had on Tuesday expressed satisfaction over the CWRC’s rejection of Tamil Nadu’s request. Tamil Nadu’s demand was that Karnataka should release 12,000 cusecs of water. The committee had recommended releasing 3,000 cusecs of water to Karnataka. According to Karnataka officials, due to very less rainfall during the south-west monsoon (June to September) this year, there is not enough water in four important reservoirs of the state.
According to officials, the situation in the state is so serious that leave aside the supply of water for irrigation, there is difficulty in meeting the drinking water needs. He said that the rainfall in Karnataka in August and September this year is the lowest in the last 123 years. Later, speaking to reporters in Bengaluru, Water Resources Minister Shivakumar appealed to Kannada organizations to withdraw the bandh call on Friday and said the government was committed to protecting the interests of farmers and meeting the drinking water needs of the state.
He said, “Yesterday’s (Bengaluru) bandh has been successful to a large extent, people have cooperated… We are also with the protesters, because we are in the government, we have to follow the law and rules. Some organizations have also called for a bandh on 29th September, I appeal to them that calling a bandh once again will cause loss and inconvenience to the public, hence ensure that this does not happen. The Congress leader said that protests and After hearing the government’s arguments, the quantity of water released to Tamil Nadu has been reduced from 5,000 cusecs to 3,000 cusecs.