National water policy can solve river disputes, says chief minister

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday said a national water policy would help in solving inter-state river water disputes.

Siddaramaiah told reporters on the sidelines of an event in Bengaluru that in a federal system, most of the inter-state water disputes, including sharing of Cauvery River water with Tamil Nadu, could be resolved through bilateral talks. A national policy in this regard is the need of the hour. 

He said the present storage in the four reservoirs in the Cauvery basin stood at 45 tmcft which was not sufficient to meet the drinking water needs of the state. 

Tamil Nadu had 36 tmcft in Mettur but still had approached the Supreme Court seeking water from Karnataka.

Goa yet to respond

Siddaramaiah said he had been trying to reach Goa Chief Minister Lakshmikant Parsekar to resolve the Mahadayi water sharing dispute but the latter had not been responding to his calls.  

The Mahadayi Water Dispute Tribunal had recently advised Karnataka, Goa and Maharashtra to resolve the dispute amicably through talks.

“I have written to the prime minister and chief ministers of Maharashtra and Goa stating that Karnataka is ready for talks. While there has been a positive response from Maharashtra, there has been no response from Goa,” he said. 

Law Minister T B Jayachandra said the Centre could play a bigger role in resolving the Cauvery dispute. 

The Centre could support Karnataka in its power project at Shivanasamudra and build a dam at Makedatu, he said.

‘Govt’s stupidity costing state dear’

BJP state president B S Yeddyurappa on Saturday said the state government’s “stupidity” in handling the Cauvery issue  was costing the people of state dear.

 “At a time when we are facing severe distress in the Cauvery basin, there was no need to submit an affidavit to the Supreme Court that the state was ready to release 10,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu everyday,” Yeddyurappa said at a party function in Bengaluru on Saturday.