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Karnataka not to release Cauvery water

The Karnataka Cabinet on Saturday decided not to release Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu from its reservoirs, endorsing the stand taken by Chief Minister S M Krishna on Friday.

The state government also decided to press Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to immediately convene the Cauvery River Authority meeting to review its earlier order on the quantum of water to be released from its four reservoirs.

After the nearly 3-hour long Cabinet meeting, state Information Minister Kagodu Thimmppa told rediff.com: "Even the Supreme Court has favoured such a meeting to review the CRA's order of September 8, where the state was directed to release 0.8 tmcft [thousand million cubic feet] of water to Tamil Nadu. We expect a favourable response from Vajpayee."

Referring to Friday's Supreme Court directive to release 9,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu, Thimappa claimed that about 5,000 cusecs of water was already flowing into the Mettur reservoir from Biligundlu gauging station. He said the Cauvery Monitoring Committee team, which visited both the states recently, also noted this.

Biligundlu station is located on the border of the two riparian states.

Krishna told his Cabinet colleagues that the intermediate and lower catchment areas, situated below the Kabini and Krishna Raja Sagar reservoirs, were already yielding about 6,000-7,000 cusecs of water every day. "As a result, about 5,000 cusecs of water has been flowing from Biligundlu into Mettur reservoir every day. And with the lower catchment area of 5,535 km between Biligundlu and Mettur yielding another 1,825 cusecs of water, the total inflow into Mettur reservoir comes to around 6,825 cusecs per day," he said.

Karnataka's letter to the prime minister will also contend that the expected northeast monsoon rains in the intermediate and lower catchment areas of Tamil Nadu would increase the inflow into Mettur reservoir to about 9,000 cusecs.

Thimmappa said the CMC had said in its report to the prime minister and the Supreme Court that the history of inflows into Mettur dam durng the last 11 years have shown that the intermediate and lower catchment areas together generate a minimum of 32.4 tmcft of water or 11,800 cusecs per day in the month of October, which is 2,800 cusecs more than what the Supreme Court had ordered Karnataka to release.

Cauvery Water Dispute: The Complete Coverage

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