Karnataka Water Resource Minister M.B. Patil made a detailed presentation of distress situation in the Cauvery basin and said the State was expected to fall short of 20 tmcft of water this year.
Mr. Patil made the presentation before the high-level technical team led by G.S. Jha, who is also chairman of the Central Water Commission (CWC), which embarked on a trip to the basin area on Friday. The team was constituted by the Supreme Court to assess the ground realities of the Cauvery basin in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
The Minister said: “We (Karnataka) are not in a position to release any more water from our reservoirs,” owing to the failure of south-west monsoon this year. “Compared to our basin areas, neighbouring Tamil Nadu is placed in a better position in view of a normal north-east monsoon that has been predicted.”
Explaining the situation being faced by the State, he said the farmers had been able to sow only on 6.15 lakh acres. Standing crops on 1.88 lakh acres had withered due to water shortage. The estimated water requirement for drinking and irrigation purposes till May 2017 was about 67.18 tmcft. With the present storage of only about 32.05 tmcft of water and expected inflow of another 15.17 tmcft, “we may fall short by about 20 tmcft of water this year,” Mr. Patil said.
The total requirement for drinking water purposes in towns, villages and cities, including Bengaluru and Mysuru, till May next year was about 23.05 tmcft, Mr. Patil said, and pleaded with the team to take into account the expected north-east monsoon in Tamil Nadu, before working out the distress formula to be shared by the riparian States.
The Minister also appealed to the team to assess the ground reality during the visit to the Cauvery basin in the Karnataka region. A 30-page memorandum was submitted to Mr. Jha.
Responding to the plea, Mr. Jha said he would ensure a fair assessment of the situation and strike a balance between the two States.
Chief Secretary Subhash Chandra Khuntia, Water Resources Department Principal Secretary Rakesh Singh, and Agriculture Department Principal Secretary Maheshwar Rao were present on the occasion.
Representatives from Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, who are touring with the Central technical team, were also present.
The team will visit the Tamil Nadu basin area on Saturday.
