The first meeting of the Cauvery Supervisory Committee here on Saturday decided to review the position of storage levels, corresponding to demands and the onset of the south-west monsoon in relation to Tamil Nadu’s demand for water allocation for the first 10 days in June, as stipulated in the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT) award.
Upper riparian Karnataka suggested that the next meeting be held after four weeks, but in his order, the panel chairman, S.K. Sarkar, proposed a meeting on June 12.
The panel has been set up on the orders of the Supreme Court to implement the award of the CWDT on the water shares allocated to the basin States of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry.
The seven-page order signed by Mr. Sarkar said: “The irrigation water requirement of Tamil Nadu during the first 20 days of June for nursery cultivation of kuruvai paddy is 1.2 TMC [thousand million cubic feet] as estimated by the CWDT. The irrigation water demand of Karnataka during the corresponding period is about 0.9 TMC. The live storage in all the four reservoirs in the Cauvery basin in Karnataka as on May 31, 2013 is 3.77 TMC and the corresponding live storage in Mettur in Tamil Nadu is 3.73 TMC.”
“In view of the storage position [in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu reservoirs] and the corresponding water demands for the first 10-day period of June and anticipating the onset of monsoon in time, the Chairman decided that the position regarding storage and allocation will be reviewed in the next meeting along with other deferred agenda items in the next meeting proposed to be held on June 12, 2013,” it said.
The panel deferred a decision on finalising the draft Rules of Business, after Tamil Nadu objected to the provision prescribing a quorum and decision by majority vote, saying it went beyond the May 10, 2013 order of the Supreme Court. State Chief Secretary Sheela Balakrishnan also sought expeditious constitution of a Cauvery Management Board.
Karnataka Chief Secretary S.V. Ranganath said his government would give its comments on the agenda items and draft business rules in two or three days.
