TN to move Supreme Court to get its due share of Cauvery water

CHENNAI: Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Thursday announced that in a day or two, the State government would move the Supreme Court to get the Cauvery water due to the State by filing an interim petition. She said Karnataka had been releasing water for irrigation within the State as it had sufficient water in its four dams but refused water to Tamil Nadu.

The Karnataka government and Centre had so far not responded to Tamil Nadu’s letter dated July 30 seeking 22.934 tmcft of shortfall during the period (June 1 and July 26) and that in the coming months, water should be released in line with the final award of the Cauvery Tribunal, Jayalalithaa said.

“I have confidence that we will get our due share of Cauvery water by getting appropriate orders from the Supreme Court,” she said, making a suo motu statement under Rule 110 in the State Assembly. She also gave a detailed account of steps taken so far to get the Cauvery water due to the State through legal means.

The remark of the Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in his Independence Day address that it would build a dam across the Cauvery river at Mekedatu had caused anxiety among Tamil Nadu farmers. 

Recalling that the Tamil Nadu Assembly had adopted two resolutions in the past on Mekedatu issue, Jayalalithaa said the State government had already filed an interim petition seeking directives to Karnataka not to execute any new projects across the Cauvery and that the status quo should continue on this issue until the cases about Cauvery water were disposed of.

The Chief Minister reiterated that her government would take all legal steps to ensure the rights of Tamil Nadu if Karnataka proposed to implement any project across the Cauvery river contravening the final verdict of the Cauvery Tribunal.