JOIN USThe crucial meeting of the Cauvery River Authority, chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, will be held here Wednesday to discuss the demand made by Tamil Nadu for releasing more water by Karnataka.
Convened after a gap of nine years, the meeting has been scheduled following a direction by the Supreme Court to the Centre on a plea filed by TN seeking direction to hold the CRA meeting.
While Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalitha held a meeting with her cabinet colleagues in Chennai on Tuesday, her Karnataka counterpart Jagdish
Shettar met External Affairs Minister S M Krishna in Bangalore before leaving for Delhi. Krishna, interestingly, was the chief minister when the last CRA meeting was held in February, 2003.
Shettar also met Karnataka’s Cauvery legal team led by Fali Nariman.
Shettar told Deccan Herald on Tuesday that he would convince the meeting that Karnataka, already suffering from drought and paucity of drinking water, cannot release any more water than it was doing now. Karnataka has been releasing a total of 10,000 cusecs, under the direction of the Supreme Court, and will continue till September 20. Shettar added that 49 taluks were reeling under drought in the State. “Ground reality should be taken into consideration while deciding the issue,” Karnataka Water Resources Minister Basavaraj Bommai said.
Jayalalitha chaired a “detailed consultative meeting” with Finance Minister O Panneerselvam, Electricity Minister Natham R Viswanathan, besides Chief Secretary Debendranath Sarangi, an official press release here said. Tamil Nadu is likely to demand that Karnataka should release water from out of the present storage of about 80 tmc ft (thousand metric cubic feet) on a proportionate basis compared to the full storage level of 124 tmc ft. Karnataka, the lower riparian state, is set to oppose it saying it required the stored water as the state was suffering from drought. Karnataka will demand for a well-defined distress formula for sharing of water during lean seasons. Tamil Nadu will also demand release of more water to save its standing crops.
The meeting is unlikely to be attended by Kerala Chief Minister Oomen Chandy. The Puducherry chief minister is the other member of the CRA.