Following the Supreme Court’s directive to Karnataka to release 10,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu from December 5 to 9, Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar has decided to take a delegation to Delhi on Friday and apprise Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Union Water Resources Minister Harish Rawat of the “difficulty” in releasing water.
In a 10-page statement in the Assembly on Thursday, Mr. Shettar said farmers’ interests were adversely affected when State governments violated the orders of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal, the Supreme Court, the Cauvery River Authority and the Cauvery Monitoring Committee (CMC) in the past.
During a debate on the issue, Mr. Shettar did not reply to an Opposition query whether the government was implementing the apex court order. He said the government would continue its legal battle after consulting experts on Friday in New Delhi before the CMC meeting.
The delegation, comprising Minister for Water Resources Basavaraj Bommai, Cauvery basin MPs and Union Ministers from the State, would explain to Dr. Singh and Mr. Rawat the difficulty in implementing the court directive, Mr. Shettar said.
Tracing the history of the dispute between the two States since 1892, he said Tamil Nadu was pleading before the apex court to direct Karnataka to release 52 tmcft of “backlog.”
Mr. Shettar made a similar statement in the Council.
In the morning, he chaired a meeting of the floor leaders of both Houses of the legislature and discussed the implications of the court directive.
As soon as the House met after lunch, Opposition members trooped into the well, demanding that the government not release water.
