NEW DELHI: Citing the irrigation season in Tamil Nadu has ended on January 31, the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) on Thursday rejected the state’s demand to direct Karnataka to release more water to Tamil Nadu. CWMA has also rejected the request of the Karnataka government to take up a discussion on the Mekedatu reservoir project.
The 28th meeting of CWMA and Ministry of Jalshakti officials has heard submissions from both governments. While Karnataka submitted against the order issued by CWRC on January 18 that directed them to maintain the environmental flow of the Cauvery River as per the order of the CWDT modified by the Supreme Court, TN officials demanded the release of 18TMC of water (inclusive of the backlog of 7.61 TMC) up to the end of May.
The former argued that the state has experienced more distress than that of Tamil Nadu during the current water year. They said that there has been a shortfall of 52.44% in cumulative inflows to Karnataka’s four reservoirs from June 2023 to 29 January 2024 due to a deficit of the southwest monsoon.
The officials also raised the issue of the Mekedatu reservoir and urged the CWMA to take it up for discussion which was objected to by TN and Puducherry representatives. The CWMA rejected the demand of Karnataka and opined that the Mekedatu matter is pending before the Supreme Court and the majority of members of the Authority are not competent enough to deliberate on it.