BENGALURU: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday sought the cooperation of opposition parties to take an all-party delegation to PM Narendra Modi at the earliest, to resolve inter-state river water disputes with regard to Cauvery, Mahadayi, Krishna and the Mekedatu project.
Briefing the press after the all-party leaders’ meeting at Vidhana Soudha, he also suggested that a distress formula be arrived at with regard to the sharing of Cauvery water. The state has been facing a difficult situation every five or six years due to scanty rainfall, and could not release water to Tamil Nadu.
Meanwhile, he suggested that the implementation of the Mekedatu project, with a storage capacity of 67 tmcft, will help Tamil Nadu as water could be released even during distress. “But the Tamil Nadu government has been unnecessarily opposing the project,” he rued. Former CM B S Yediyurappa also backed a distress formula.
Siddaramaiah defended the State Government’s reluctance to release the quantum of water Tamil Nadu had demanded. Officials representing Karnataka at the Cauvery Water Management Authority have voiced the state’s plight. “By now, 86.38 tmcft of water had to be released, but till August 20, only 24 tmcft of water was released. We have opposed their demand and made a sincere effort to put forth facts before the authorities as our crops were not irrigated due to scarcity of rain, and we have to meet drinking water supply too,” he claimed.
“There was 63 tmcft of water in Mettur dam in Tamil Nadu and 32 tmcft of water is sufficient for the ‘kuruvai’ crop. Tamil Nadu had claimed it will raise crops on 1.85 lakh acres, but expanded beyond that and is utilising more water. Despite this, they walked out of the CWMA meeting as the authority directed Karnataka to release 10,000 cusecs of water as against their demand for 15,000 cusecs. Tamil Nadu filed an objection in court, accusing Karnataka of not releasing water.
We should also keep in mind the interest of our farmers and drinking water supply,” stated Siddaramaiah. Karnataka’s legal team has been instructed to argue the state’s case competently before the three-judge bench, with the first hearing on August 25, he informed. The state is facing hardship after setting up CWMA and the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee. Former CMs BS Yediyurappa, HD Kumaraswamy, Basavaraj Bommai, DV Sadananda Gowda, Veerappa Moily and Jagadish Shettar, ministers, MPs and Advocate-General Shashikiran Shetty took part in the meeting.
AAP not invited, expresses disappointment
Bengaluru: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Wednesday expressed disappointment for not being invited to the all-party meeting. AAP former state president and coordinator south Prithvi Reddy told TNIE that party state chief Mukhyamantri Chandru had personally written to the CM and DyCM stressing the importance of the need to speak in one united voice in the interest of the state.
“We offered to participate in the deliberation and offered the assistance of subject expert Brijesh Kala-ppa, who is not only a water resources expert but has represented Karnataka officially in this matter in the Supreme Court for over 20 years,” he added. “Solutions can emerge from any direction. Why is the government not inviting a national political party despite us offering to play a positive part,” Kalappa wondered.