While Karnataka needs around 106 tmcft of Cauvery water every year for irrigation, drinking water, and industrial purposes, the four reservoirs in the basin have only 59.65 tmcft of water left.
Published Sep 29, 2023 | 10:07 PM ⚊ Updated Sep 29, 2023 | 10:58 PM
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah chaired a meeting with legal experts on the simmering tensions over Cauvery River water row at Bengaluru on Friday. (Supplied)
Amidst the simmering tensions in Karnataka over the Cauvery river water sharing dispute, the state government faced yet another setback as the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) on Friday, 29 September, upheld the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee’s (CWRC) recommendations and directed it to release water to Tamil Nadu till 15 October.
Three days after the CWRC recommendations came, the CWMA chaired a meeting in Delhi on the Cauvery river water sharing between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
Despite representatives of Karnataka it making clear to the CWMA that there was insufficient water in the Cauvery basin to release to the neighbouring state, the authority upheld the recommendations and directed the Karnataka government to release 3,000 cusecs of water every day to Tamil Nadu till 15 October.
After the CWMA upheld the CWRC recommendations, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, who holds the water resources portfolio, chaired a meeting at Vidhana Soudha on Friday with retired Supreme Court justices, irrigation experts, and former advocate generals to discuss whether to release water to Tamil Nadu.
Based on the advice of the legal experts, the Siddaramaiah-led Karnataka government decided to file a review petition before the Supreme Court and the CWMA against the latter’s order.
While Karnataka annually needs around 106 tmcft of Cauvery river water for irrigation, drinking, and industrial purposes, the four reservoirs in the basin have only 59.65 tmcft left.
The state has also recorded a 25 percent rain deficit since the onset of the monsoons. Malnad, Coastal, South, and North Karnataka regions have recorded rain deficits this season.
This has led to poor inflow to all the reservoirs in the state. Hence, most of the reservoirs have not been filled this monsoon.
Earlier, a delegation led by Karnataka State Sugarcane Growers’ Association president Kurbur Shanthakumar and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) state president Mukhyamantri Chandru met Siddaramaiah and demanded that the government take firm decisions for the welfare of farmers and the state.
In the meeting held in Delhi on Friday, the CWMA — after hearing the arguments of both the states’ representatives — directed the Karnataka government to release 3,000 cusecs of water every day to Tamil Nadu till 15 October.
On 26 September, the CWRC recommended Karnataka to release 3,000 cusecs of water to the neighbouring state every day from 28 September to 15 October.
According to sources South First spoke to, “The representatives of Karnataka requested the CWMA to consider the prevailing storages in four reservoirs of the Cauvery river basin in the state. The four dams have insufficient water to meet the requirement of irrigation and drinking water needs.”
They added: “It requested to reconsider the CWRC recommendations and give a break from releasing water to Tamil Nadu for 15 days.”
On the other hand, Tamil Nadu’s representatives demanded that the CWMA order the release of 12,500 cusecs, including a backlog of 12.5 tmcft.
After the detailed deliberations, the CWMA upheld the directions of the CWRC and directed the Karnataka government to release water to the neighbouring Tamil Nadu till 15 October.
Karnataka’s Additional Chief Secretary Rakesh Singh told reporters in Delhi: “With regard to backlog water, we shall see it after the end of the water year. We don’t have water and will not be able to meet their backlog demands.”
He added: “We have presented facts before the CWMA. Tamil Nadu should have used around 32 tmcft for 1.85 lakh hectares of Kuruvai crops, but has utilised about 68 tmcft till 25 August. It also claimed that the state will not benefit much from the upcoming Northeast Monsoon.”
Singh also said: “Meanwhile, the Southwest Monsoon is nearing its end in Karnataka. Through the Northeast Monsoon, Tamil Nadu gets at least 75 tmcft of water at the Mettur reservoir. We have also sought accounts about the excess water utilised by Tamil Nadu.”
He was physically present for the CWMA meeting in Delhi on Friday. There were allegations from the Opposition parties that the representatives of Karnataka were attending the CWMA and CWRC meetings virtually.
On the distress formula, he said: “The Tamil Nadu government was putting pressure for the implementation of a distress formula for the last six months. We have also prepared a draft and will submit it to the authorities for deliberations on Monday.”
He also said that Karnataka was going to submit the written proposal about the Mekedatu balancing reservoir before the CWMA for deliberations as the Supreme Court had verbally observed this proposal and directed for deliberations before the authority.
In a major decision, based on the advice of the legal experts, the Siddaramaiah-led Karnataka government decided to file a review petition before the Supreme Court and the CWMA on Saturday.
Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar, who holds the water resources portfolio, chaired a meeting at the Vidhana Soudha with retired Supreme Court justices, irrigation experts and former advocate generals to discuss the further course of action on complying with the CWMA.
ತಮಿಳುನಾಡಿಗೆ 3000 ಕ್ಯೂಸೆಕ್ ನೀರು ಬಿಡುಗಡೆ ಮಾಡಲು ಕಾವೇರಿ ನೀರು ನಿರ್ವಹಣೆ ಪ್ರಾಧಿಕಾರವು (CWMA) ಅದೇಶಿಸಿರುವ ಹಿನ್ನೆಲೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಎದುರಾಗಿರುವ ಸಂಕಷ್ಟದ ಪರಿಸ್ಥಿತಿಯನ್ನು ಸಮರ್ಥವಾಗಿ ನಿರ್ವಹಿಸುವ ಸಂಬಂಧ ಮುಖ್ಯಮಂತ್ರಿ @siddaramaiah ಅವರು ಮಾನ್ಯ ಸುಪ್ರೀಂ ಕೋರ್ಟ್ ಹಾಗೂ ಹೈಕೋರ್ಟ್ನ ನಿವೃತ್ತ ನ್ಯಾಯಮೂರ್ತಿಗಳು ಹಾಗೂ ಮಾಜಿ… pic.twitter.com/RENXokkFQO
— CM of Karnataka (@CMofKarnataka) September 29, 2023
After the meeting, Siddaramaiah told reporters: “Several Supreme Court retired chief justices, senior Supreme Court advocates, and other legal experts participated in the meeting. As per their experience, they have given some advice and suggestions.”
He added: “The experts have insisted on setting up an advisory committee not confined to Cauvery water row, but also to monitor all the interstate water disputes. This committee will keep tabs on all the developments including inflow, outflow, and water-storage levels. It will also provide suggestions to the government and legal team on water disputes.”
The chief minister further said: “The experts have advised us to file a review petition before the Supreme Court and CWMA. Considering their advice, we have decided to file a review petition before the Supreme Court and CWMA on Saturday”
However, he did not clarify whether Karnataka would comply with the CWMA order and release water to the neighbouring state. “We cannot disclose everything to the media. The government will file a review petition,” reiterated Siddaramaiah.
Considering the advice of the legal experts, the Siddaramaiah government also decided to fight for the Mekedatu balancing reservoir project before the Supreme Court and the CWMA.
Siddaramaiah told reporters: “In the previous argument before the Supreme Court, when our advocates spoke about the Mekedatu project, the court said that it would list the matter after two weeks and hear arguments on it. The legal experts insisted on making the Mekedatu proposal. The Mekedatu reservoir has to be built. Hence, we should convince the highest court of the country.”
He continued: “The Mekedatu reservoir project will not cause any harm to Tamil Nadu. They are opposing this because of political reasons. Last year, 650 tmcft went to Tamil Nadu. If there is a balancing reservoir, we can store 67 tmcft. This is not being built for irrigation purposes but for drinking-water and power-generation purposes. This will help people of Bengaluru and Kolar for drinking water.”
Siddaramaiah also said: “We will release the remaining water to Tamil Nadu. In the distress period, we can release the stored water to the neighbouring state from the Mekedatu balancing reservoir. We cannot utilise this water. They also insisted that we argue effectively before the apex court on building the Mekedatu balancing project. So, we will soon decide about filing a petition on the matter.”
While the South West monsoon is nearing an end in Karnataka, the four reservoirs in the Cauvery River basin have only 52 percent water storage left.
According to the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC) reports: “The four reservoirs in the Cauvery river basin are left with only 52 percent water, which amounts to 59.65 tmcft against the maximum storage capacity of 114.57 tmcft. The Krishna Raja Sagara reservoir has only 20.96 tmcft against the maximum capacity of 49.45 tmcft.”
It added: “The inflow stands at 4,835 cusecs and outflow at 2,348 cusecs. The Haranagi, Hemavathi, and Kabini reservoirs have water storage of 6.78 tmcft, 18.53 tmcft, and 13.38tmc against the maximum capacity of 8.50 tmcft, 37.10 tmcft, and 19.52 tmcft, respectively.”
Since the onset of the South West monsoon in Karnataka, the state has recorded a rain deficit in three of the last four months. “The state has recorded a rain deficit of 25 percent since 1 June, 2023. In September, the state witnessed a rain deficit of 10 percent,” said the centre.
“In the same period, the South, North, and Malnad regions recorded rain deficits of 18, 20, and 16 percent, respectively. In a relief to the coastal area, the region recorded 27 percent excess rain in the last 28 days,” claimed KSNDMC reports.
“Karnataka needs 70 tmcft of water for irrigation to sustain crops, 30 tmcft for drinking water, and 3 tmcft for industry purposes. The state has a total requirement of 106 tmcft. But, the Cauvery basin has only 50 tmcft of water,” according to the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO).
Former Karnataka chief minister and BJP leader Basavaraj Bommai, while acknowledging the need for strict legal action on the Cauvery issue, advised the state government that engaging with legal experts and the affected parties should have been done earlier.
Bommai told reporters in Bengaluru on Friday: “In the matter of the Cauvery dispute, the state government is facing criticism, and now, engaging in discussions with the legal experts and farmers. The government should have initiated such actions earlier. Although there is no coordination between the chief minister and the deputy chief minister in this government, there is also a lack of coordination between the Home Minister and senior officials.”
He continued: “It seems like they are now gearing up for a legal battle, akin to slamming the door shut after the cow has bolted. They should have engaged in discussions with legal experts earlier. Nevertheless, the government must fight fairly in order to ensure that orders against the state do not come in the future.”
Bommai also said: “Retired Supreme Court chief justice Shivaraj Patil is an expert in border, language, and land issues. The government should have held talks with him or other legal experts on the matter.”
