Order Karnataka to Honour SC Mandate on Cauvery: MK Stalin to Centre

Chennai: Blaming the Karnataka government for creating an artificial crisis in providing the essential Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu, Chief Minister M K Stalin urged the Union Government to order the neighbouring State to honour the mandate of the Supreme Court in releasing water with a view to protecting the livelihood of Cauvery delta farmers who form the foundation of the State’s agriculture.

Moving a resolution in the State Assembly on Monday, Stalin said the Union Government should act properly and get the water necessary to not only meet the State’s food requirements but also for the sustenance of human lives, adding that a demand would be placed before the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee, when it meets on October 11, to compensate the short supply so far.

Vowing to get the State’s share in the coming days with a view to saving the remaining Kuruvai crop and also facilitating the cultivation of Samba crop, he said that legal experts would be consulted on the course of action to be taken in future.

But for the BJP, whose representatives walked out of the House, all parties supported the resolution, heeding to the Chief Minister’s request to the members to adopt it unanimously, though the Leader of the Opposition Edappadi K Palaniswami, said that Stalin could have made use of his friendly relationship with the Congress and persuaded the Karnataka government to provide water.

Before leading her fellow MLAs out of the Assembly, BJP’s Vanathi Srinivasan said the resolution that only aimed at putting pressure on the Union Government without placing the onus on the Congress government in Karnataka would not bring in a complete solution to the problem as it could also be taken up directly with the Karnataka government by the DMK government,  she said.

Leaders of all the other parties fully stood behind Stalin in supporting the resolution, which said that the State had received only 2.822 TMC water at Biligundlu instead of the mandated 9.19 TMC in June, which led to State Water Resources Minister Duraimurugan first calling on the Union Minister for Jal Shakti, Gajendra Singh Shekawat on July 3.

Stalin said that though Duraimurugan had asked the Union Minister to order Karnataka go release the State’s share of Cauvery water for the months of June and July and had once again repeated the request on July 5, water was not released on the pretext of shortage due to the failure of the South West monsoon, leading to the Kuruvai crop raised in the delta districts getting affected.

He listed the efforts made subsequently, including the requests to the Union Minister to immediately intervene in the crisis on July 19 and 20, and the raising of the issue with the Cauvery Water Management Board by pointing out that the storage in the four dams in Karnataka stood at 84 per cent of the average storage in the last 30 years and the inflow was 51 per cent of the average inflow in the last 30 years while the release at Biligundlu was only 13 per cent.

Based on what was pointed out by the State, Karnataka was told on July 25 to let off 11,000 cubic feet of water for six days from the Kabini reservoir. Also, a demand to honour the Supreme Court order on water sharing was made at the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee at its 83rd meeting on July 31.

Yet only 10,000 cubic feet of water was received at Biligundlu for seven days from August 1, prompting the Chief Minister to write to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to seek his intervention.

Subsequently at the August 10 meeting of the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee, an order was initially issued for providing 15,000 cubic feet of water per second at Biligundlu for 15 days from August 11 but the quantum was later reduced to 10,000 cubic feet, forcing the members from Tamil Nadu to stage a walkout, he said.