The Karnataka State government has decided to take an all-party delegation to New Delhi shortly to apprise Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who heads the Cauvery River Authority (CRA), of the difficulty of the State to release 12 tmcft of water to Tamil Nadu in December.
Mr. Singh had declined to meet Mr. Shettar when he visited the capital last week to discuss the implications of the Cauvery Monitoring Committee’s (CMC) order. The Chief Minister only met Union Water Resources Minister Harish Rawat on December 7.
Making a statement in the Legislative Assembly on Tuesday, Mr. Shettar said he would convene an all-party and floor leaders’ meeting in the next few days to discuss the implications of the CMC directive.
He plans to meet the Prime Minister to apprise him on the drought in the Cauvery basin districts as well the low storage level in the State’s reservoirs.
The Supreme Court on Monday refused to go into the validity or otherwise of the order passed by the CMC on December 7, and left it open to Tamil Nadu and Karnataka to seek an appropriate remedy before the Cauvery River Authority.
‘Be cautious’
Water Resources Minister Basavaraj Bommai said the government has already written to the Prime Minister requesting him to convene a CRA meetingto discuss the issue, including notification of the final award of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal. JD(S) floor leader H.D. Revanna and H.C. Balakrishna (JD-S) said the government has to be cautious while raising the issue at the CRA meeting.
