Karnataka is likely to await the outcome of the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) meeting before taking the future course of action with respect to release of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu.
It is also looking at the Centre to intervene in resolving the dispute over sharing the Cauvery waters in this distress year, as Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar, who holds the Water Resources portfolio, met the Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat on Thursday.
Government sources said that the government was waiting for the authority meeting based on which a decision would be taken on whether to release water or approach the Supreme Court for relief. “The Cauvery Water Regulation Committee (CWRC) that has decided that Karnataka should release water at the rate of 5,000 cusecs daily for 15 days is only a recommendatory body. Karnataka will await the authority’s meeting where it will argue against the quantum. Depending on the outcome, the State is likely to approach the Supreme Court,” sources said.
Meanwhile, another source said that the meeting of the Deputy Chief Minister with the legal team in Delhi did not take place as announced by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah after the all-party meeting here on Wednesday. Sources in the Water Resources Minister’s office said Mr. Shivakumar was likely to go to Delhi to discuss with the legal team later.
However, Mr. Shivakumar went directly to Jaipur to meet the Union Minister where he also handed over the letter written by Siddaramaiah. The State has sought the Centre’s intervention after the CWRC recommended the release of water at the rate of 5,000 cusecs daily for 15 days. With the depleted quantum of water in four reservoirs across the Cauvery basin in Karnataka, the Chief Minister has expressed the State’s inability to release the water without endangering crops, human beings, and livestock.
