Tamil Nadu to Pursue Supreme Court for Cauvery Water Rights

Chennai: Spurned by both Karnataka and the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee (CWRC) on the demand for release of water in River Cauvery, Tamil Nadu government has decided to move the Supreme Court to get its due share, even as other political parties girded up their loins, urging the State government to establish its rights over Cauvery

The more than a century-old dispute over the sharing of Cauvery waters between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu reached a flashpoint on Tuesday at the 95th meeting of the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee (CWRC), chaired by Vineet Gupta, when CWRC agreed with Karnataka’s claim that it did not have adequate water even to meet its demands, and rejected Tamil Nadu’s demand outrightly,

Reacting to the development at the CWRC, which was seen as taking a stand in favour of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu Water Resources Minister Duraimurugan said that the State would approach the Supreme Court for remedy and added that the neighbouring State had never bothered to release the due share of water with Tamil Nadu.

The Minister was replying to questions raised by media persons at the May Day celebrations in Chennai when he accused Karnataka of being a habitual offender who never honoured the commitment to share water with the State whether there was copious flow in the inter-state river that originates in Karnataka and then flows into Tamil Nadu.

Gupta had said that both the States faced a water shortage and the storage in Karnataka’s reservoirs was so low that it was difficult to even maintain the natural flow. He said that the inter-state point of Cauvery at Biligundlu received just 150 cusecs of water as against the mandated 1000 cusecs.

So the CWRC refused to entertain Tamil Nadu’s demand to direct Karnataka to release the backlog of water and maintain environmental flow as per the final award of Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT), which was modified by the Supreme Court, triggering anger in the State as the situation in the delta region was  precarious, even otherwise.

MDMK founder Vaiko said that Karnataka had water but was not sharing it with Tamil Nadu even after the level in the Mettur reservoir had dropped to a dangerous low.  As per CWDT, Karnataka needs to ensure environmental flows at Biligundlu by ensuring release of around 1000 cusecs per day, ie. 2.5 TMC from February to May, he said.

Vaiko wanted the State government to speed up the pending cases on the river water sharing dispute between the States and establish the State’s rights over Cauvery water.

TMC chief G K Vasan alleged that the Tamil Nadu government had failed to reflect that aspiration of the farmers of the Cauvery delta and wanted the government to take action to get the State’s share of water.

Since Cauvery has been an emotional issue, it has led to the eruption of riots on both sides of the borders in the past. With political parties stoking the embers of anger among the people in Tamil Nadu who want their share as per the orders and those in Karnataka opposing the release of water, violence had broken out on several occasions.

Though the Supreme Court and the CWDT have specified the quantum of water to be released to Tamil Nadu, Karnataka reneges on its mandate whenever they face water shortage. Now with Tamil Nadu too facing a crisis, the recalcitrance of Karnataka could trigger a bout of anger.