With the State staring at 81 per cent deficient rainfall during the northeast monsoon in the Cauvery catchment areas of Karnataka, the government is likely to inform the Supreme Court that it cannot continue to release 2,000 cusecs of water a day to Tamil Nadu.
Sources in the State Secretariat told The Hindu that the Water Resources Department has already held discussions with the State’s legal team in New Delhi and suggested the need for filing a petition in the apex court expressing the State’s inability to release 2,000 cusecs of water a day to Tamil Nadu following “almost total failure of” northeast monsoon in Karnataka.
With depletion of water levels in four reservoirs, sources said residents of urban centres, particularly Bengaluru, would face severe drinking water shortage in the coming summer if the State continues to release 2,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu.
“We will express our inability to comply with the order owing to failure of rain in October and November,” official sources said.
SC order on Oct.18
On October 18, a three-judge Bench, led by Justice Dipak Misra, directed Karnataka to release 2,000 cusecs a day to the neighbouring State till further orders.
Expecting a normal northeast monsoon, the Karnataka government had decided to comply with the Supreme Court order.
