The Cauvery river water dispute is scheduled for hearing before the Supreme Court on Friday. The TN government has filed a petition at the top court.
Published Aug 31, 2023 | 10:20 PM ⚊ Updated Aug 31, 2023 | 10:20 PM
The officials of Mandya district administration tried to convince Melukote MLA Darshan Puttannaiah to withdraw his protest in front of KRS dam. (Supplied)
Following the orders of the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA), Karnataka’s Congress government began releasing Cauvery river water to Tamil Nadu around Wednesday midnight.
Condemning the state government’s decision to release water to Tamil Nadu, the farmers of various associations and Melukote MLA Darshan Puttannaiah have launched an indefinite strike across Mandya.
Karnataka’s Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, who also heads the water resources portfolio, flew to Delhi on Wednesday night. He chaired a meeting with the state’s legal team at Karnataka Bhavan on Thursday, 31 August.
The Cauvery river water dispute case is scheduled for hearing before the Supreme Court on Friday. The Tamil Nadu government has filed a petition at the apex court on the matter.
Meanwhile, on Thursday, the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) informed the Supreme Court that Karnataka has conformed to its direction by releasing a total of 1,49,898 cusecs of water at Biligundlu from 12 to 26 August.
On Tuesday, after hearing arguments from both Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, the CWMA upheld the recommendations of the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee (CWRC) on releasing Cauvery river water to Tamil Nadu.
Karnataka was earlier asked to release 10,000 cusecs of water, but the state appealed against the verdict, saying that there was inadequate rainfall in the catchment areas of the Cauvery basin. Taking Karnataka’s concerns into consideration, the CWMA ordered releasing 5,000 cusecs instead.
According to Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC) reports submitted on Thursday evening, “The reservoirs in the Cauvery river basin are left with only 61 percent of water. The storage capacity at the Krishna Raja Sagara Dam stands at 23.57 TMC, against the maximum capacity of 49.45 TMC, and the outflow stands at 7,329 cusecs and inflow is 1,610 cusecs.”
“The other three reservoirs in the basin: Harangi has 7.57 TMC against the maximum capacity of 8.50 TMC. Hemavathi has 24.84 TMC against the capacity of 37.10 TMC. Kabini has 13.65 TMC against the capacity of 19.25 TMC,” claimed KSNDMC.
In the last hearing held on 25 August, while Karnataka had sought reduction in the allocation of water to Tamil Nadu citing distress on account of inadequate rainfall, Tamil Nadu has sought enhancement in its allocation to irrigate and save its standing crops.
Opposing the Tamil Nadu’s application for the release of Cauvery water to realise its share of allocation for the second half of August, the Karnataka government has said that the Tamil Nadu’s application is based on the assumption that the rainfall was normal this year, but that was not so.
The Karnataka government said that Tamil Nadu seeking direction for the release of 36.76 TMC of water in September has no legal foundation, as the release of such quantity of water is stipulated only in a normal water year and not in a distress water year.
Stating that the Tamil Nadu application is based on “erroneous assumption” that this year is the normal rain water year, the Karnataka government told the top court that up to 9 August, the shortfall in the rains was by 25 percent. Consequently, the inflow of water in four reservoirs in the state was lesser by 42.5 percent, as recorded by the CWMA.
“During this year, due to the failure of the Southwest Monsoon, a distress condition has arisen in the Cauvery basin in Karnataka. Karnataka, therefore, is not obliged to, and it cannot be compelled to, ensure water as per the stipulated releases prescribed for the normal year,” stated the affidavit by Karnataka government.
The Siddaramaiah-led government is facing severe opposition from farmers across Mandya for releasing Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu in the midst of severe drought in the state.
Ever since the CWRC recommended Karnataka to release 5,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu, the farmers have been staging protests on a daily basis in and around Krishna Raja Sagara Water Reservoir. An agitation, led by MLA Darshan Puttannaiah, launched an indefinite strike in front of KRS Dam Wednesday night.
The farmers also held a “semi-naked protest” on the banks of Cauvery river in Mandya. Before marching to the Tahsildar office, the farmers also took a bath in the river.
The officials of the Mandya District Administration tried to convince the farmers and Melukote MLA to withdraw protests on Wednesday night. However, the farmers did not budge and continued their protest on Thursday.
Continuing the legacy of his father, late former MLA KS Puttannaiah, Melukote MLA Darshan Puttanaiah launched the indefinite protest in front of KRS reservoir on Wednesday night.
MLA Darshan Puttanaiah told South First, “The protest is being held by various farmer associations, including Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha, across Mandya. I have also launched an indefinite protest opposing the CWMA recommendations and government decision on complying with the order.”
“We have to agitate on the Cauvery river water-sharing issue because we are in a very dire situation and grappling to get sufficient water for irrigation and drinking purposes. The leaders, irrespective of their political affiliations, have to join the protest,” urged Puttanaiah.
He continued, “Our main focus is drinking water. The situation is grim across the state as we are facing drought this monsoon. Karnataka has a disadvantage because the Southwest Monsoon is over here. Whereas the Tamil Nadu has more advantage as it gets two monsoons and one of them is yet to begin. The neighbouring state has chances of getting more water through rains in the future, but it is not the same in our state.”
On the hearing coming up before the apex court, Puttanaiah said, “We have already launched the protest against the CWMA’s recommendations. We will look into the apex court order and take further decisions on continuing the protest.”
“In the all-party meeting, we have given our opinions and urged to argue effectively before the apex court. I would not like to comment anything on this at the moment,” said the lawmaker regarding allegations that the state legal team is not arguing the case effectively.
As the Cauvery river issue is coming up for hearing before the Supreme Court on Friday, Deputy Chief Minister Shivakumar chaired a meeting with the state legal team on the matter at Delhi on Thursday afternoon.
Shivakumar told reporters in Delhi: “We have requested the CWMA to visit the reservoirs in Cauvery river basin in Karnataka and inspect the situation. Then, they might understand the reality. It is because of the fight from our officials that we have received an order to release less water to the neighbouring state. However, because of the rain deficit in Karnataka, it is challenging for us to release 5,000 cusecs of water every day.”
“Hence, I am in discussion with the advocate general and his team of legal experts, officials, and representatives of the state who are arguing on the matter,” added the Deputy Chief Minister.
He continued, “Tamil Nadu has asked for 24,000 cusecs of water. As our officials presented facts, the quantum of water released to the neighbouring state has been reduced to 5,000 cusecs. Because of lack of rain, the inflow to the reservoirs has also lessened, making it difficult to release even this water. We cannot question Tamil Nadu’s rightful use of water. How much water we have released is calculated in Biligundlu. If there were adequate rains, there would be no objection to releasing the rightful water to them. Honouring the earlier orders, we have released the water.”
“We have invited the authority’s officials to visit our reservoirs to understand the ground reality. Then they might understand the severity in Karnataka. We are expecting that the authority will consider our request and protect the interest of our state and farmers,” said Shivakumar.
Stating that the government is committed to protecting the interest of farmers, Shivakumar said: “Our topmost priority is to protect the interest of our farmers. The issue will come up before the Supreme Court, the hearing is likely to be postponed.”
“Hence, I will discuss with our legal team on filing a petition before the Supreme Court and take further decisions. The Mekedatu Project is the only solution for all these schemes. If the Mekedatu reservoir existed, water could have been released to the neighbouring state under the distress formula,” Shivakumar said, adding that the Mekedatu will protect the interests of Tamil Nadu.
