Chairman of the official-level Cauvery Monitoring Committee (CMC) D.V. Singh is visiting Tamil Nadu and Karnataka on Thursday and Friday to assess the water requirement of each State beyond October 15. As per the directions of the Cauvery River Authority (CRA), chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Karnataka was to release 9,000 cusecs of Cauvery waters to Tamil Nadu till October 15, after which the CMC was to assess the situation.
Simultaneously a central team, comprising officials of the Central Water Commission and the Ministry of Agriculture, is also visiting the two States to assess the ground reality in relation to the crop situation and water availability.
Against the backdrop of agitations in Karnataka over release of water to Tamil Nadu, Mr. Singh, who is also Union Water Resources Secretary, will meet the chief secretaries of both the States to seek their views on the situation. He will specifically try to make an assessment of the requirements of both the States and report to the CRA.
In the September 19 meeting of the CRA held here, the Prime Minister had said that Karnataka will make the releases till October 15, which would be monitored by the CMC. The matter may be brought to the CRA if need be, it was decided.
Water Resources Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal said on Wednesday that the central team will give its report after which it will be decided if any further meeting of the CRA has to be convened in the matter. The CMC will hold an official-level meeting of the Cauvery basin States including Kerala and Puducherry on October 11 to review the situation in the light of the secretary’s visits to Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
