Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Saturday said the recent statements by the Karnataka government, terming Tamil Nadu’s demand for Cauvery water as unjustified and alleging that the State had increased its ayacut area, were baseless and unacceptable.
He blamed the Karnataka government of providing wrong information in its letter to Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat on Wednesday. It had stated that the Cauvery delta region in Tamil Nadu had adequate groundwater, and the State would receive enough rainfall during the northeast monsoon.
Mr. Stalin said Tamil Nadu’s Minister for Water Resources Duraimurugan, accompanied by MPs from all political parties in the State, would submit a memorandum to Mr. Shekhawat asking the Union government to not take into consideration the untrue statements made by the Karnataka government.
He pointed out that the Cauvery Water Regulatory Committee (CWRC) had predicted normal rainfall in the Cauvery region of Karnataka for the 15-day period from September 13, based on the India Meteorological Department’s (IMD) forecast.
Taking that into consideration, he said the memorandum would urge Mr. Shekhawat to advise the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) to issue orders for the release of 12,500 cusecs of water and also to advise the Karnataka government to release the water in a timely manner as per the orders of the CWRC and CWMA.
In a statement, Mr. Stalin pointed out that as per the pro rata sharing formula provided in the final verdict of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal in 2007 and in the Supreme Court’s ruling in 2018 for rain-deficit years, Tamil Nadu should have received 103.5 thousand million cubic feet (tmcft) of water till September 14 of this year. However, it had only received 38.4 tmcft, with a deficit of 65.1 tmc ft, he said, and highlighted that the Tamil Nadu government had already filed a petition at the Supreme Court on August 14, since Karnataka failed to release water and the regulatory authorities were unable to resolve the issue.
