Ahead of her meeting with her Karnataka counterpart Jagdish Shettar on Thursday over Cauvery water sharing, Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Wednesday chaired a meeting of top officials and deliberated on the issues to be raised at the meeting.
Sources said the Chief Minister would be making a forceful plea for release of water to save the crops in the delta districts of Tamil Nadu and point out the inadequate Northeast monsoon rains in the State, besides the depleting water storage in the Mettur dam, which is the main source of water for irrigation in the delta areas.
The meeting between the two Chief Ministers is to take place on the advice of the Supreme Court on November 26. The last Chief Minister-level talks on Cauvery water dispute was held on January 5, 1997 between the then TN Chief Minister M Karunanidhi and Karnataka Chief Minister JH Patel.
The delegation headed by Jayalalithaa would comprise PWD Minister KV Ramalingam, Chief Secretary Debendranath Sarangi, PWD Secretary M Saikumar and Cauvery Technical Cell Chairman R Subramanian.
K’taka May Stick to ‘No Water’ Stance
As farmers and people of both Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, the riparian states of the Cauvery River, eagerly await the outcome of the meeting, it is learnt that Karnataka is firm on its stand of not releasing water to TN .
According to official sources, Karnataka CM Jagdish Shettar is likely to present a status paper on the poor storage in reservoirs after the failure of the South-West monsoon in the State. Shettar is also expected to stick to Karnataka’s stand on not to release water to TN.
“A powerpoint presentation on the storage level in all the reservoirs in the basin, including KRS and Kabini, and also data pertaining to the quantum of water released to Tamil Nadu that was recorded at the Biligundlu Gauging Station, will be presented during the meet,” sources told Express.
Shettar and Water Resources Minister Basavaraj Bommai held an high-level meeting with officials, including Chief secretary S V Ranganath and Principal Secretary, Water Resources department Sathyamurthy, ahead of the crucial bilateral meeting. Sources said Shettar had appealed to pro-Kannada organisations to cooperate with the State authorities to make the event “incident-free” as the meeting was being held on the advice of the Supreme Court.
The case in this regard is expected to come up for hearing again on Friday in the apex court and both States are expected to present the outcome of Thursday’s talks.