BENGALURU: Karnataka Chief Minister DK Shivakumar on Friday said the State Government will make its next move on the Cauvery issue after getting the advice of legal experts and consulting leaders from opposition on the Cauvery Water Management Authoirty’s (CWMA) order asking the state to release 3,500 cusecs of water daily to Tamil Nadu for 15 days.
Ahead of Sunday’s all-party meeting, he held deliberations with the legal team, DCM Dr G Parameshwara, Water Resources Minister Ramalinga Reddy and top officials. “Officials and legal experts will brief the all-party meeting before a decision is taken. BJP MPs and central ministers have cooperated with us. Some may oppose it in public; I will not debate them now. I believe they will protect the state’s interests,” Shivakumar told reporters. He appealed to protesters not to go ahead with the bandh on August 13.
“I will consult opposition leaders and seek their suggestions for the state’s welfare. Until July-end, we released only 0.6 tmcft of water to Tamil Nadu, which is the least amount of water released to Tamil Nadu in the past 100 years. The flow was mostly from rain around Bengaluru that drained away, not water released from our reservoirs. There is no need for a bandh. The government is putting efforts to safeguard the state’s interests,” he said.
“Our review petition is pending. We will decide after the all-party meeting. Why should we think about (Tamil Nadu government moving Supreme Court) now,” he asked.
“We will not take any decision without the advice of Delhi legal experts and without consulting former CMs and opposition leaders at the all-party meeting,” he said.
He recalled that the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee (CWRC) had ordered release of 3,500 cusecs to Tamil Nadu in difficult years of 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2023. “We had good rainfall for the last three years, and last year, we released over 400 tmcft of water instead of 177 tmcft,” he said.
“All stakeholders — the Cauvery authority, Tamil Nadu and the media— have access to reservoir inflow data. The Harangi reservoir is at 95%, Kabini 83%, KRS 36% and Hemavathi 67% of capacity. The order expects release of around 4.5 tmcft over 15 days. Our dams have seen inflows of 25,000 cusecs,” he explained.
Denying charges of opposition parties that the government failed to effectively argue the state’s case before central authorities, Shivakumar clarified that before filing the review petition, he held an all-party meeting with central ministers and MPs of the state in Delhi. He claimed that the discussion was held with central ministers Prahlad Joshi, V Somanna and Shobha Karandlaje. “They pushed the matter and pressured central ministers,” he said.
“We filed a review petition. Opposition friends accused us of not sending officials. I don’t need to reply to them, but I must inform the people that we continued with the advisers who were with former CM Basavaraj Bommai. They also attended the meeting,” he explained. “There will be no problem with drinking water, which requires 40 tmcft. Of that, 36 tmcft is needed for consumption and about 4 tmcft may evaporate. Any extra water will be shared in emergencies,” he said.
Congratulates CR Patil
He claimed that after he took charge as CM, under the leadership of Union Jal Shakti Minister CR Patil, he met CMs of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh and reached a consensus over inter-state water disputes. “Because the Tungabhadra has silt, we agreed on balanced measures, including a compensating reservoir to prevent Karnataka’s loss of 33 tmcft. This plan was agreed in principle as a national project with the Centre and state funding of 90:10. I congratulate C R Patil for leading that effort,” he said.
KRS water level at 92.85ft
The water level in the KRS reservoir stood at 92.85ft as against the total capacity of 124.8ft as of 8 am on Friday. While the inflow was 7.058 cusecs, the outflow was 1,706 cusecs.