JOIN US“The Supreme Court had told Karnataka to adopt the principle of ‘live and let live’. Going by it, Karnataka would submit before the court that it now wants to live and hence it is constrained not to release water to Tamil Nadu.”
This is how Water Resources Minister M B Patil reacted after the government got the backing of the legislature on Friday to inform the court about its inability to release water.
On September 2, the court had asked the state to release water to Tamil Nadu. It had suggested that Karnataka follow the principle of ‘live and let live’. When contacted by DH, Patil said, “We want to live now. We have the right to live. So we want water to drink. It has become Samba crop vs drinking water. The priority should be to supply drinking water.”
Asked whether Karnataka has stopped releasing water to Tamil Nadu, he said, “There is no question of releasing water. We will go by the legislature direction and save water for drinking,” he added.
To a question whether farmers in the Cauvery basin too would not get water for irrigation activities, he said henceforth water will only be for drinking.