The Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) on Tuesday upheld the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee's (CWRC) recommendation directing Karnataka to ensure a flow of 6,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu for 15 days.
Following the CWRC's direction, Karnataka's Water Resources Minister N told reporters in Bengaluru that the state is seriously considering approaching the Supreme Court over the matter.
The decision was taken at the 57th meeting of the CWMA held in Delhi under the chairmanship of S K Haldar. Officials from Tamil Nadu and Karnataka participated in the meeting. Earlier in the day, the CWRC had recommended that Karnataka release water to Tamil Nadu at a rate of 6,000 cusecs for the next 15 days.
This follows the CWMA's earlier order on August 25 when, upholding the CWRC's recommendation, it had directed Karnataka to ensure a flow of 9,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu for 15 days.
The meeting was held following the Supreme Court's direction to the Tamil Nadu government a day earlier to raise before the CWMA its grievance over the release of its proportionate share of Cauvery water by Karnataka.
At its 141st meeting on August 24, the CWRC had directed Karnataka to release water from its reservoirs and ensure a flow of 9,000 cusecs at the Biligundulu border point.
The flow had to be maintained continuously for 15 days, during which Tamil Nadu was expected to receive approximately 11.66 TMC of water.
The release is expected to benefit Kuruvai cultivation and meet Tamil Nadu's drinking water requirements.
Earlier, the CWRC had directed Karnataka to release 12,000 cusecs of water daily to Tamil Nadu for 15 days from August 12. The CWMA had subsequently upheld that decision.
'Delhi does not understand ground realities'
Describing the CWRC order as "absurd" and expressing anguish over it, Chaluvarayaswamy said Karnataka was facing a difficult situation due to a significant decline in inflows into the Cauvery basin over the past week.
"Our officials strongly argued the ground realities at the CWRC meeting. Tamil Nadu had sought 17,000 cusecs of water. However, inflows into the Cauvery basin have declined considerably over the past week. In such a distress situation, even releasing 6,000 cusecs is impossible for us. We are making continuous efforts to ensure that no water is released," he said.
The minister also criticised the functioning of authorities taking decisions from Delhi, saying they were unable to understand the situation on the ground. "The Constitution and administration benches sitting in Delhi do not understand the ground realities. There have been instances in the past when similar orders were issued without understanding the actual situation," he said.
Chaluvarayaswamy said the government did not expect much relief from the CWMA meeting and would discuss the matter with Chief Minister D K Shivakumar before deciding on approaching the Supreme Court. "...we will discuss the matter with the chief minister. The government is seriously considering filing a petition in the Supreme Court tomorrow itself," he said.
On the water storage in the state's various reservoirs, the minister said around 50 per cent of the available water was being reserved exclusively for drinking water purposes.
"Water has been supplied to farmers' crops as required through the Bhadra and Upper Krishna Project (UKP) in those regions. Water has also been released through the river to ensure there is no drinking water shortage in the Chitradurga region," he said.
He added that water from reservoirs was being managed in a controlled manner to fill lakes and ponds and prevent shortages for people and livestock.
(With inputs from PTI)
