CHENNAI: DMK principal secretary Durai Murugan and Cauvery Rights Retrieval Committee coordinator P Maniarasan have taken strong exception to the reasons attributed by Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami for not opening Mettur dam on the scheduled date (June 12) and urged him to take expeditious steps to get water.
In a statement here, Durai Murugan said even when there was no clear cut court verdict for release of Cauvery water, the then Chief Minister M Karunanidhi had ensured release of water for delta districts by maintaining good relationship with the neighbouring State. But now, even after the Supreme Court had directed the Centre to ensure release of water by forming the Cauvery authority, water was not released and the authority also is yet to take shape.
Had the AIADMK government taken constructive steps to exert pressure on the Centre when the court gave its verdict on February 16, by this time, the authority would have ordered release of water.
In a statement here, Maniarasan said the Chief Minister had wrongly attributed the monsoon failure in Karnataka as the reason for not opening Mettur dam in time. The Chief Minister had failed to give the information relating to water storage available in the new dams constructed by Karnataka to store Cauvery water and also details about the quantum of water that should have been released to Tamil Nadu on pro rata basis. The data available said that rainfall in that State was higher between January 1 and May 31.
For example, Mysuru received 309 mm of rain against the normal rainfall of 230 mm while Mandya received 295 mm against the normal 184mm. In Chamrajnagar, rainfall stood at 309 mm against the normal 230mm. The Chief Minister should have asked Karnataka for Tamil Nadu’s rightful share, he said.
