AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Sunday urged Chief Minister M.K. Stalin to exert pressure on the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) to release 90 tmcft of water from neighbouring Karnataka.
In a statement, Mr. Palaniswami alleged that the DMK and the Congress were involved in activities “behind the screens”, and should drop them and take steps to ensure that Tamil Nadu gets its due share of water.
The AIADMK leader alleged that the DMK which, along with its allies, had 38 MPs in the Lok Sabha, had “neither been proactive nor had taken any steps to get Karnataka to release water to us”, and that it had “not exerted any pressure” in this regard.
“There is only 33 tmcft of water in the Mettur dam, which is the source of drinking water for people in 20 districts of Tamil Nadu. Karnataka is obliged to release about 90 tmc of water for us,” Mr. Palaniswami said.
He also referred to his personal visits to Mayiladuthurai, Nagapattinam, Thanjavur, Tiruchi and Tiruvarur districts, where he saw that “samba and thaladi crops were dying for want of water”.
As on February 3, storage in Mettur dam stood at 70 feet, which was about 33 tmcft of water, the former Chief Minister said. “While so, water in Krishnaraja Sagar dam stands at 92 feet, 54 feet in Kabini dam and 102 feet in Harangi dam,” he pointed out.
