The Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha has filed an application before the Supreme Court seeking to implead as a respondent in the case related to Tamil Nadu’s petition on August 14 seeking release of Cauvery water from Karnataka.
In the application filed by KRRS leader and MLA Darshan Puttannaiah, the farmers’ body has sought permission to file documents and affidavits before the court.
The KRRS said that people of Karnataka, who are dependent on Cauvery water, would be at peril and the life of farmers in the basin districts would be affected if the petition of Tamil Nadu seeking direction to Karnataka to release water is entertained by the court.
‘Mechanically obeying’
The KRRS has also accused Karnataka government of ignoring the interests of farmers with respect to Cauvery waters. It has stated that Karnataka has been mechanically obeying instructions related to water release from time to time, unmindful of its farmers’ right over drinking water and irrigation. It has also accused Karnataka government of jeopardising its farmers’ right to life and livelihood granted by the Constitution.
The KRRS has said that the total storage in the reservoirs of Cauvery basin in Karnataka as on June 1 was 24.352 tmcft as against Tamil Nadu’s 86.43 tmcft. The water requirement for Tamil Nadu for growing Kuruvai crop from June to September is 32.27 tmcft for irrigating 1,85,100 acres of crop as recognised by Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT), it said.
However, during the half of the Kuruvai season itself, Tamil Nadu had used about two times the quantum of water allocated for it and it may end up using four times the water allocation (129 tmcft as against the allocated 32.27 tmcft) by the end of Kuruvai season, the KRRS contended. Referring to the excessive water usage, the KRRS contented that the area allowed for Kuruvai crop irrigation in Tamil Nadu might be 7,40,000 acres as against the allowed quantum of 1,85,100 acres.
