Bengaluru: Former Karnataka chief minister Basavaraja Bommai has urged chief minister Siddaramaiah to take a firm on releasing Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu and thereby protect the interests of the people in view of the dearth of rainfall.
In a letter to Siddaramaiah, Bommai said that legal action should be taken in this regard in future. "I think you have noticed that the Tamil Nadu government has taken up the issue of Cauvery water sharing and we have seen in media reports that it may even go to the Supreme Court. Legal action should be taken in view of the factual aspects in this matter," Bommai wrote.
The letter stated that on June 1, there was a total 24,352 tmcft of water in the four reservoirs of Karnataka. It has been learnt from media reports that there was 69.77 tmcft in Mettur Reservoir, 16.653 tmcft in Bhavani Sagar Reservoir and 14,054 tmcft water was released from Biligundlu measuring station (as on August 6). A total of 83.831 tmcft of water has been received in Mettur Dam in Tamil Nadu this year, he wrote.
According to the Cauvery Water Dispute Tribunal (CWDT), Tamil Nadu should use 32 tmcft of water for 1.8 lakh acres of Kuruvai crop. However, Tamil Nadu (as on August 7) used 60.97 tmcft of water, which is almost twice the CWDT mandate, Bommai said. "Despite the water scarcity in the Cauvery basin, the CWDT norms were violated. The fact that our officials did not protest against this is a threat to the interest of the state," Bommai said.
He said that the water level of our existing four dams will be insufficient to cater to the drinking water demand of Bengaluru city, urban and rural areas of the Cauvery basin. Similarly, Kharif crops in the Cauvery basin are suffering from water scarcity, he said. The release of water causes hardship for the people and farmers of Karnataka, he added.
Also Read: TN to go to Supreme Court on Cauvery, says Karnataka has changed its stand
Earlier, the Tamil Nadu government had sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi's intervention, asking him to direct Karnataka to release the stipulated amount of water to the state.
