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CRA to review deficit in water release

By Gargi Parsai

New Delhi Jan.11. The sixth meeting of the Cauvery River Authority (CRA) to be chaired by the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, here on Monday will discuss the water releases made by Karnataka into Mettur reservoir in Tamil Nadu. It will review the situation with regard to deficit in releases and water levels in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu reservoirs.

The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, J. Jayalalithaa, and her Karnataka counterpart, S.M. Krishna, will attend the meet. Both the Chief Ministers are likely to be accompanied by large delegations of concerned Ministers and officials.

While the Pondicherry Chief Minister, N. Rangaswamy, is also expected to attend the meeting, the Kerala Chief Minister, A.K. Antony, will be represented by his Water Resources Minister, T.M. Jacob.

In the 16th (emergency) meeting of the Cauvery Monitoring Committee (CMC) both Karnataka and Tamil Nadu had disputed the deficit that accrued from shortfall in releases. Neither State agreed to the shortfall figure put out by the Central Water Commission by October-end, which was around 18 tmc(thousand million cubic) ft.

The matter was placed before the Prime Minister who had convened a meeting of the CRA. However, the last meeting of the CRA in November was postponed for lack of quorum as the Chief Ministers of Tamil Nadu and Kerala could not attend. The presence of three Chief Ministers is essential for the quorum to be completed.

The matter is also pending before the Supreme Court on a petition by Tamil Nadu. The State has also filed a contempt petition against the Karnataka Chief Minister and the Government for non-compliance of the court's order.

The apex court had directed Karnataka on September 3 to release 1.25 tmcft into Mettur till the CRA took a decision. In its meeting on September 8, the CRA asked Karnataka to release waters from its reservoirs to ensure an inflow of 9000 cusecs (0.8 tmcft) at Mettur per day accounted on weekly basis for September and October. Tamil Nadu was to in turn ensure proportionate releases to Pondicherry.

The Court later ordered that Karnataka would continue to release 0.8 tmcft till November 7, after which the releases could be as per the schedule drawn under the Cauvery Dispute Tribunal's interim order. However, the Court also directed that their order would be subject to modification by the CRA on the basis of the representation filed by Karnataka about distress but the CRA would also take into account the deficit in releases amounting to non-compliance of the court's order and that of the CRA.

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