TN wants meeting of Cauvery Authority

During a meeting of the Cauvery Monitoring Cell (CMC), chaired by Union Ministry of Water Resources Secretary U N Panjiar, Tamil Nadu government officials urged the Centre to relay upon the Karnataka government to release more water from the Cauvery basin.
The Centre convened the CMC meeting following a request of the Tamil Nadu government.  Chief Secretaries of all Cauvery river basin states—Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry––attended the meeting.

Karnataka Chief Secretary S V Ranganath informed the meeting that because of the severe water shortage in Cauvery basin reservoirs in Karnataka, the State was not in a position to release any more water. He also said that the State had already released 30 tmc feet of water this year from its reservoirs to Tamil Nadu. If Karnataka received good rainfall in the coming days, the State might consider releasing more water to Tamil Nadu, he said.
Explaining the reservoirs’ storage situation in Karnataka, Ranganath said crops have already started withering in Cauvery basin areas.

However, Tamil Nadu officials said to save their crops, they immediately needed 26 tmc feet of water. They also complained that this year Karnataka was yet to release its quota of 60 tmc feet water.

A senior official from the Water Resources Ministry indicated that the Centre is likely to convene a CRA meeting soon following pressure from Tamil Nadu.