Tamil Nadu walked out of the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) meeting on Friday after Karnataka reportedly refused to agree to the release 37.9 thousand million cubic feet (tmc ft) that is due to Tamil Nadu.
In a brief interaction with the media in Delhi, Sandeep Saxena, Additional Chief Secretary to government, Water Resources Department of Tamil Nadu, said that the State pointed out that 37.9 tmc ft water was deficit [as per the Supreme Court’s judgment in February 2018] as on August 9, 2023. The State demanded the CWMA to issue directions to release water on a daily basis. The State highlighted the problems faced by the farmers in Tamil Nadu.
However, Karnataka reportedly refused to accept the demands of Tamil Nadu. Since it did not appear that a solution would be reached, Tamil Nadu walked out of the meeting, he said. Tamil Nadu has been seeking water from Karnataka to save its ‘kuruvai’ crop in the Cauvery delta region.
Meanwhile, Karnataka Water Resources Department sources who attended the meeting on Monday said: “Karnataka vehemently opposed Tamil Nadu’s demand for the deficit water to be shared between the two States as per a so called distress formula. They were citing the Supreme Court and Tribunal orders. The meeting witnessed a lot of arguments and counter arguments.”
However, Karnataka representatives refused to accept the demand, and pointed out that the water to farmers in the basin districts in the State had not been released as yet. “Karnataka also pointed out that Tamil Nadu had already released water to its farmers and also had sufficient water storage in its reservoirs.”
Karnataka Water Resources Department sources exuded confidence, and said: “We have made our case and our case is reasonably strong. What Tamil Nadu has been demanding was very high and Karnataka is not ready to meet the demand.”
Sources said that the orders from the authority was expected late on Friday or Saturday.
Sources in the Jal Shakti Ministry told The Hindu that in the meeting, the CWMA recommended that Karnataka release 10,000 cusecs (cubic feet per second) of water or the next 15 days starting Saturday. Based on future rainfall, there would be a re-evaluation of the quantity to be released. Approximately 11,000 cusecs works out to be 1 TMC (thousand million cubic feet) per day.
This figure was arrived upon as a “compromise” after Karnataka said it was unable to release the prescribed quota of water due to the prevailing rain deficit and a shortage of nearly 40% at its reservoirs.
