Deve Gowda urges Modi to set up external agency to study reservoirs in Cauvery basin

JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowda has written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking his intervention to resolve the Cauvery river water-sharing dispute between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

In a letter to the prime minister dated September 23, released during a news conference in the city on Monday, Gowda requested the Union government to send a five-member team, without anyone from Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, to understand the situation of the states and also demanded the Jal Shakti ministry to submit an application before the Supreme Court.

Requesting the prime minister to direct the Jalshakti Ministry to address the Cauvery dispute as a top priority, Gowda said, "I had proposed to constitute a committee of five experts independent of the party states and the Union government, for undertaking an immediate site visit to assess more accurately the prevailing ground realities in both the states. In my opinion, I think this is the only possible interim measure that may be taken by the Union government to avoid further escalation of the raging conflict."

Releasing a picture of a dried-up KRS reservoir he urged the Centre to file a review petition in the Supreme Court. "The prime minister should understand the ground realities and direct the Jal Shakthi Ministry to file a review petition in the Supreme Court informing it of deputing an expert panel to study the situation in the Cauvery basin," said the former PM.

The report should be placed before the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) and Cauvery Water Regulation Commission (CWRC) for consideration ahead of any decision on the release of water, Gowda said.  "I hope the prime minister initiates action so that further injustice won't take place as far as Karnataka is concerned," Gowda added.

In the letter, Gowda mentioned the availability of water levels at reservoirs of the Cauvery basin in Karnataka as on September 23. As mentioned in his letter, the water storage is only 51.10 tmcft as against the 112 tmcft required for crops and drinking purposes.

He even pointed out that Karnataka received the lowest rainfall in the last 123 years this year in the months of August and September.  

“It is a curse that Karnataka happens to be the upper riparian state in Cauvery basin and is always obliged to fulfill the demands of the downstream state,” Gowda said.