Tamil Nadu urges SC to direct state to release 17.5 tmcft water by Sept 30

Tamil Nadu on Friday urged the Supreme Court to reject the supervisory committee’s direction to Karnataka to release 3,000 cusecs of the Cauvery water per day.

Instead, it sought direction to Karnataka to release at least 17.5 tmcft water by the end of September as per the final order of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal, “assuming and not admitting the decision of calculation of inflows based on 56% of inflows during the current irrigation year”.

Even if “there is a deficit, and applying the pro rata formula, the state of Tamil Nadu is entitled to 63 tmcft as against 94 tmcft as on August 31, as per the notified final order,” it stated.

Seeking direction for meeting the water requirement for Samba crop and drinking purposes in the Cauvery basin in the state, Tamil Nadu maintained that Karnataka continued to draw water for irrigation as though it is a normal water year and utilised it for “unauthorised lift irrigation and other schemes, besides having drawn water for summer irrigation during 2015-2016”. 

Filing its objection to the supervisory committee's direction of Sept 19, Tamil Nadu contested Karnataka's claim and relied upon the Tribunal's finding that two-third of Bengaluru city lay in South Pennar basin and therefore outside the Cauvery basin.

“The supervisory committee instead of deciding the quantum to be ensured by Karnataka at Biligundlu in the crucial period in which the major Samba crop has to be grown, deliberated about data acquisition protocol, methodology mechanism etc, which are long-term measures, which can be looked after by the Cauvery Management Board and the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee, which are permanent mechanism,” it said.

The committee failed to record the deficit due to Tamil Nadu as on August 31 was 61 tmcft, it added. Tamil Nadu termed as incorrect the committee’s calculation that the percentage of inflows into the four major reservoirs of Karnataka from June 1 to August 31 was 52.28%. Tamil Nadu said it had already written to the committee to issue directions to Karnataka to make good the deficit of 64.755 tmcft as on September 5 during the current irrigation year 2016-2017.