With the timely arrival of the north-east monsoon in Tamil Nadu and the copious rainfall in the catchment areas of the Cauvery basin in Karnataka, the water dispute between the two states seems to have gone to the back burner.
“On October 8, Karnataka stopped releasing Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu. In the next eight days, however, around 9 tmc feet of water — rain water and seepage from the reservoirs put together — went from Karnataka to TN,” according to a Water Resources Department official.
In the first three days, the total outflow from Biligundlu measuring station was around 3.5 tmc feet of water, as recorded by the Central Water Commission.
The Cauvery Monitoring Committee (CMC), which met on October 11, had directed Karnataka to release 8.5 tmc feet of water to Tamil Nadu between October 15 and 31.
The storage level in Krishnaraja Sagar (KRS) reservoir, the major reservoir in the state, which stood at 104.92 feet on the day the state closed its gates, also recorded a moderate increase to touch the 108.53 feet mark on Wednesday.
The Cauvery Hitharakshana Vedike, led by former Lok Sabha member Made Gowda, which was spearheading the agitation against the release of Cauvery water, suspended the agitation after the state government decided to close the gates of KRS and other reservoirs.
Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu filed a contempt petition before the Supreme Court against Karnataka’s decision to stop the release of water to Mettur dam, against the Cauvery River Authority’s order.
Tamil Nadu’s petition is expected to come up before the Supreme Court on October 30. However, its claims do not seem to hold much water following reports of good monsoon rains there.
Earlier, on a petition filed by Tamil Nadu, the SC had endorsed the CRA’s order and asked Karnataka to release 9,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu.
It had triggered widespread protests in Karnataka, particularly in the Cauvery basin area.