The State government, which is expected to write to the Centre expressing its reservation over the schemes of the Cauvery Water Management Authority, is working on bringing out a detailed 20-year data pertaining to the Cauvery. The in-depth ground report is likely to be part of the letter to be sent to the Centre.
The decision to highlight the State’s plight using the datasets of two decades, which will prove the reduction in water yield in the Cauvery basin, was taken after an advice by the former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda to Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy on Saturday, sources in the Chief Minister’s office said. The State is likely to send the Water Resources Secretary as its nominee in the authority.
Limited options
With limited options available before the State on the formation of the authority, the State government has also been advised by the former Prime Minister not to get into confrontation with the Union government on the issue. “The former Prime Minister’s advice was to seek justice to the State within the ambit of the Supreme Court’s verdict and the Centre can be appraised of the situation with a in-depth report on ground realities,” sources aware of the developments said.
Accordingly, the work on preparing the document with statistics of the last 20 years has begun. It is likely to include information about the Cauvery catchment and basin areas, reduction in the water yield over the years, urbanisation factor, and water needed to meet the demand in urban areas and requirement for irrigation, among others. “It will also have details as to how farmers in the Krishnaraja Sagar and Hemavati command areas did not get water for cultivation in the last three years,” sources said. Along with the ground report, sources said discussions were on on how to enlighten people in the Cauvery riparian States.
Incidentally, Mr. Kumaraswamy had said last week that while the government would abide by the Supreme Court verdict, the State was not happy over the announcement of the schemes by the Centre before discussing them in Parliament. On Sunday, Mr. Kumaraswamy held discussions on the Cauvery issue with leading legal experts and irrigation experts of the State.
Mr. Gowda told reporters in Shravanabelagola on Sunday that he had suggested to the State government to nominate two representatives to the Cauvery River Management Board and write to the Centre to register its protest. He said the constitution of the management board had many implications.
“The State will send representatives, but with some conditions,” he said.
