Karnataka mulls moving SC against Cauvery water release order
Karnataka Water Resources Minister N Chaluvarayaswamy called the CWRC’s 6,000-cusecs order “absurd”, saying declining inflows have made the release difficult
Bengaluru, Sep 8 (PTI) The Karnataka government is seriously considering approaching the Supreme Court against the CWRC direction to release 6,000 cusecs of Cauvery river water daily to Tamil Nadu, the state's Water Resources Minister N Chaluvarayaswamy said on Tuesday.
Describing the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee's (CWRC) order as "absurd" and expressing anguish over it, he said Karnataka was facing a difficult situation due to a significant decline in inflows into the Cauvery basin over the past week.
The CWRC on Tuesday recommended directing Karnataka to ensure a flow of 6,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu for 15 days, it was subsequently upheld by the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA).
"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," Chaluvarayaswamy told reporters here following the CWRC directions and ahead of the CWMA meeting.
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. PTI