With Tamil Nadu moving the Supreme Court seeking release of Cauvery water, water-starved Karnataka, which is facing deficient rainfall in the catchment area, has called an all-party meeting on Saturday in Bengaluru to decide the next course of action.
Karnataka Water Resources Minister M.B. Patil told reporters here on Thursday that the all-party meeting convened by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah would also take stock of the grim water storage situation in the reservoirs in the Cauvery basin and the problems being faced by farmers of the State due to deficient rainfall.
The proposed meeting would be attended by MPs from the State, including three Union Ministers and ministers in-charge of the districts in Cauvery basin, Mr. Patil said.
Referring to the seriousness of the situation due to poor storage in the reservoirs in Cauvery basin, the minister said: "We need the water stored in the dams in Cauvery basin for drinking purpose and have strictly instructed our farmers not to take up cultivation of water-intensive crops. But Tamil Nadu is actually seeking water for irrigation purposes."
"We will convince the Supreme Court, the Centre and the Cauvery Monitoring Committee about the deficient rainfall and poor storage position in Karnataka’s dams," he added.
Referring to Tamil Nadu’s contention that there was a deficit of 22.934 tmcft of water to be released by it, Mr. Patil said as per Karnataka’s official records, the shortfall was only 12 tmcft. Tamil Nadu has filed an application before the Supreme Court seeking direction to Karnataka to release 50.052 tmcft of water.
Meanwhile, a delegation of representatives from all the farmers’ associations in Tamil Nadu met Mr. Siddaramaiah on Thursday and appealed to him to release Cauvery water to their Samba crop on humanitarian grounds. After hearing their plea, Mr. Siddaramaiah told them about the grim storage position in Karnataka and said it would be difficult to release water given the present scenario. He assured them of releasing water in the coming days if there was good rainfall in the catchment areas.
The Chief Minister requested the farmers’ leaders from the neighbouring state to understand the position of Karnataka, which was finding it difficult to provide even drinking water.
