The Karnataka government on Saturday rejected Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswamy’s request to release 7 tmc ft of water from the Cauvery River, citing a shortage of water in the state.
"How can we release water when storage levels in our reservoirs in the Cauvery river basin are low? There is no question of releasing water now," Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was quoted as saying.
Speaking to reporters in New Delhi, he also said that he would wait for the Supreme Court’s verdict on the issue.
On the occasion of Makara Sankranti, Palaniswamy called for the immediate release of the water to the state, as per the final order of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal.
Asking for a total of 15 tmc ft of water, the TN CM asked his Karnataka counterpart to take the plight of farmers into consideration and release 7 tmc ft immediately and the rest, within a fortnight.
The water is to make up for the shortfall in the Mettur reservoir and will be used as drinking water and also for irrigating crops in the Cauvery delta in Tamil Nadu.
The CM stated that the water from Karnataka was required at the critical crop growth maturity stage, namely milky and dough stage.
The CM also made it clear that he was aware the crop season in the state is over and that adequate water (49.82 tmz ft) was still left in Karnataka’s four big reservoirs.
He pointed out that farmers in the state had lost their crops last year due to insufficient inflow into the reservoir.
He asked Siddaramaiah to “reserve adequate drinking water for the need of perennial crops” and release water.
The long-standing dispute over Cauvery river water was settled by the Supreme Court with the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal, which declared the final award on how the water must be shared between the three states of TN, Karnataka and Kerala.