Citing the copious inflows received by Karnataka reservoirs, the Tamil Nadu government on Monday urged the Supervisory Committee to order release of 34 tmc ft in July and 50 tmc ft in August besides allocating the unutilised portion of 21 tmc ft to Kerala for Samba cultivation in the delta districts of Tamil Nadu.
In its presentation, Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary Sheela Balakrishnan and PWD Secretary M Saikumar said Karnataka at present had a combined gross storage of 82.350 tmc ft in its four major reservoirs and had started utilising the water for irrigation.
Observing that there has been heavy rainfall in the catchment areas and inflows into Karnataka reservoirs, they said Samba cultivation would be put to stress if the committee fails to ensure the release of 34 tmc ft in July and 50 tmc ft in August, which is due to Tamil Nadu.
They also urged the committee to direct Karnataka to release backlog of 53.18 tmc ft to Tamil Nadu.