With the shortfall in realisation of the Cauvery water going up, Tamil Nadu is expected to impress upon Karnataka at the meeting of the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) in New Delhi on August 11 to make good the deficit and adhere to the schedule of monthly release drawn up by the Authority.
As on July 31, the cumulative deficit is about 28.85 thousand million cubic feet (tmc ft). Around 11.6 tmc ft was realised against the State’s share of 40.43 tmc ft for June and July. The authorities had been continuing with the discharge of around 11,000 cubic feet per second (cusecs) from the Mettur dam, which recorded an inflow of a mere 154 cusecs on Thursday.
The Authority last met on June 16 when Tamil Nadu, according to Water Resources Minister Durai Murugan, urged the CWMA to issue a direction to Karnataka regarding the water release. Subsequently, the Authority had “requested” the upper riparian State to “take suitable necessary action.” At its meeting on July 14, the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee (CWRC) noted that the cumulative observed flow at Billigundulu between June 1 and July 12 was only 3.379 tmc ft. A request was again made to Karnataka to wipe out the shortfall “in the forthcoming months.”
The next week’s meeting is seen as crucial as Tamil Nadu wants its outcome to be fruitful. Else, in the intervening period, nature should be kind to the State in terms of rainfall in the Cauvery catchment area and the consequent realisation. The present storage of 25.6 tmcft. in Mettur may last barely two weeks, after taking into account allowance for drinking water requirements and dead storage of the dam.
Meanwhile, in the Lok Sabha on Thursday, Union Minister of State Bishweswar Tudu replied to questions raised on the Mekedatu issue, as he did a few days ago in the Rajya Sabha. According to the Union Minister, the Authority, during its meeting in December last, decided it would take a “uniform stand for taking up discussions” on the Mekedatu project as well as any other project in Cauvery basin till the Supreme Court gave a decision on a petition filed by Tamil Nadu in 2022. He added that the Tamil Nadu government had been apprised of the decision taken by CWMA. The questions were posed by T. R. Paarivendhar, M. Selvaraj and Prajwal Revanna, all belonging to the Lower House, and P. Wilson, a member of the Upper House.
Read also: Palaniswami, Panneerselvam criticise DMK Government on Cauvery issue
In a statement, the AIADMK’s former coordinator, O. Panneerselvam, criticised the DMK regime for not being firm with Karnataka on the issues of Mekedatu and getting the shortfall cleared. He urged Chief Minister M.K. Stalin to use his good offices with the Congress in ensuring that Karnataka release the share of water due to Tamil Nadu as stipulated in the schedule.
