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Central team commences study of Cauvery level

The high-level team, despatched by Prime Minister A B Vajpayee for an on-the-spot assessment of the storage in the reservoirs in the Cauvery basin, began its study in Karnataka today.

Official sources said the three-member panel, headed by Union water resources secretary Z Hasan, left separately this morning. Central Water Commission chairman A B Mohile and CWC chief engineer Koche were the other two members of the team, which arrived in Bangalore last night from New Delhi. Additional secretary in the Union water resources ministry Balat Mohan Das also arrived in the Karnataka capital this morning. The members were scheduled to visit Krishnaraja Sagar, Kabini, Harangi and Hemavathi in Karnataka besides the Mettur reservoir in Tamil Nadu for an assessment of the water position. The team would submit its report to the prime minister tomorrow.

Vajpayee had convened a meeting of the Cauvery River Authority on September 29. The sources said Karnataka irrigation minister K N Nage Gowda in a telephonic talk with Hasan had ruled out release of water to Tamil Nadu as per the formula devised at the monitoring committee of the CRA, citing insufficient storage to meet the needs of the farmers of the state. He had also requested the team to devote two days to study the actual position.

UNI

EARLIER REPORT:
Water dwindling alarmingly in Cauvery reservoir

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