BENGALURU: The state government is unable to release any water from the Krishna Raja Sagar (KRS) dam to Tamil Nadu as per the directions of the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee (CWRC), said Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, who is also water resources minister, here on Monday.
The CWRC had recommended the state to release 2,600 cusecs of water per day to Tamil Nadu from November 1 to November 15. Shivakumar expressed helplessness and said there is no water in the Cauvery basin in Karnataka. Inflows into the KRS dam are almost nil. However, 815 cusecs of water flows naturally from Kabini and KRS reservoirs to Tamil Nadu. “At present, we have only 51 tmcft of water which is sufficient only for drinking purposes and we need to save it,” he said.
Earlier in the day, Karnataka made its submission before CWRC, requesting it to report to the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) that Karnataka will not be able to release any water from its reservoirs so as to reach the Biligundlu measuring point, except uncontrolled flows from catchment areas. Tamil Nadu had demanded 13,000 cusecs of water for the next 15 days amounting to 16.9 tmcft of water. CWRC had directed Karnataka to release 2,600 cusecs for 15 days from November 1.
Earlier this month, CWRC had asked the state to release 3,000 cusecs from October 16 to 31. Prior to that, it had recommended the release of 3,000 cusecs to the neighbouring state from October 1 to 15. “We don’t have any option, but to pray for God’s intervention. All of us can pray to God for good rain which will eventually increase inflows into KRS,” he said.