River Cauvery flows quietly dividing further both the warring neighbours, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu over sharing of Cauvery water. This time after Tamil Nadu has threatened to move the Supreme Court to get its share of water, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday expressed his inability to a delegation of farmers from Tamil Nadu, to release water to the State due to deficit rainfall in the Cauvery basin this monsoon.
He said, “There has been deficit rainfall in the Cauvery basin area, so in the present situation it will be difficult to release water for irrigation purpose”. But according to TN farmer’s delegation representatives the Chief Minister has assured them that if there are good rains in the days to come and if situation improves, water will be released to TN.
Tamil Nadu farmer leaders who met Chief Minister at his residence, requested him release water for samba crop in 9 lakh acres, stating that farmers may have to face difficulty due to crop damage. Pointing out that water level at dams in the Cauvery basin area has not reached expected levels, Siddaramaiah said the situation is such that there will be difficulty in providing drinking water. "In this circumstance we will be unable to release water even under distress formula, please understand our situation," he told Tamil Nadu farmers.
In this situation the TN farmer’s delegation felt it was better to link the rivers to share and to proper utilisation of water by all the stake holders.
Meanwhile, Siddaramaiah has called the meeting of floor leader of Karnataka legislative Assembly and Council on 27 August to discuss Tamil Nadu's repeated demand for release of water and situation in Cauvery basin area due to deficit rain fall.
Union Ministers from the State and district in charge Ministers from Cauvery basin area have also been invited for the meeting, officials said.
With Tamil Nadu Government deciding to move the Supreme Court to get its share of Cauvery water, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had recently said his Government is also ready for the legal battle.
In another development Karnataka Water Resources Minister MB Patil said that the State Government will apprise the Supreme Court, Central Government and Cauvery Supervisory Committee about the situation in the Cauvery basin. He said "Tamil Nadu is demanding the release of water, Chief Minister has already said that water is not sufficient for drinking water supply. We have cautioned our farmers about the situation and and crops they are going to undertake, but Tamil Nadu is asking for Samba crop. It is a very difficult situation."
On the proposed Mekedatu dam project across Cauvery River near Bengaluru a drinking water project to seven parching Karnataka districts, Patil said Detailed Project Report (DPR) is ready, and the draft of it will be placed before the cabinet next week. He said it will be Rs 5,900 crore projects, and there will be no shortage of funds for it. Stating that after a series of discussions, a proposal has been made to build one dam, Patil said "it will be 67 TMC, bigger than KRS (Krishna Raja Sagara) which is 45 TMC." Noting that there is Tamil Nadu's objection to the project, he said "we will disclose about the project to Supreme Court, Central Water Commission and concerned central government Ministries. We will proceed with the project legally, convincing everyone." He also said the proposed project will not in any way affect Tamil Nadu.