Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar said in Mysuru on Tuesday that the State would discuss with legal experts the latest directives by the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) to release water at the rate of 5,000 cusecs per day for the next 15 days to Tamil Nadu.
Meanwhile, farmers’ groups in Mandya continued to demand that Karnataka should not release water, considering that their crops were drying up without water.
Speaking to media persons, Mr. Shivakumar was cautious in his reply to the queries and said he and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah would hold discussions with the legal team on Tuesday night itself to chalk the next course of action.
Hearing in SC
‘’Senior officials and lawyers have briefed me of the CWMA order and also cautioned that any decision should not jeopardise the State interest as the case was also before the Supreme Court and slated for hearing on Friday,’’ he added.
In reply to a question Mr. Shivakumar said they did not want to be chastised by the Supreme Court. ‘’Our legal team and officials have argued well and aggressively as a result of which Tamil Nadu’s demand for releasing 24,000 cusecs has whittled down to 5,000 cusecs’’, said Mr. Shivakumar.
He said there was nearly 24,000 thousand million cubic ft. (tmcft) of water in the KRS of which only about 16 tmcft was live; Kabini had 13 tmcft of gross storage and the live storage position was only 3 tmcft; Harangi had 7.8 tmcft of live storage and 7 tmcft was live; and Hemavathi had 25 tmcft of water of which 21 tmcft was live.
Asked whether water would be released, Mr. Shivakumar obliquely said, ‘’The Centre also held the key.”
Responding to the allegations of BJP leader C.T. Ravi in Mysuru that the Congress was sacrificing the State interest to placate the allies of INDIA, Mr. Shivakumar said he did not want to play politics on the issue of water like the BJP. ‘’They know the ground reality and yet are issuing statements to put the Congress in Karnataka in discomfiture.’’
