Karnataka to petition SC to modify order on Cauvery water release

Seeks supervisory committee to assess ground realities in Cauvery belt

Karnataka plans to petition the Supreme Court to modify its order that directed the state to release 15,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu and limit to its earlier offer of 10,000 cusecs a day over the next six days.

Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday had maintained that the state would comply with the Supreme Court directive to release water to the neighbouring state. At the same time, the state also has sought convening the Cauvery supervisory committee, which has the Central Water Commission members to look at ground realities and assess the water to be released to the neighbour.

Karnataka maintains that there is a deficit of 47.94 per cent in the four reservoirs in the Cauvery basin - Kabini, Krishna Raja Sagar, Harangi and Hemavathi due to weak monsoon in the catchment areas. The water flow in the four reservoirs stood at 114.66 TMC feet by August end as against the normal flow of 215.7 TMC feet."

The Cauvery river tribunal in 2007 had directed Karnataka to release 192 TMC feet of water to Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry. As per its calculations, the state should have released 94 TMC feet of water since the South West monsoon began, but has been able to release only 36 TMC so far.

"We could not comply with the final award of the tribunal since this is not a normal year. We are in a distress situation," a senior minister said here on Wednesday.

Karnataka says that the current situation is similar to 2012-13 when the state offered as a goodwill 10,000 cusecs of water to save the Samba crops in the neighbouring state despite the drought situation.

Meanwhile, Kannada activists have called for a Bandh in the state on September 9, saying that the Apex court directive was a grave injustice on the state.

The Supreme court directive had whipped passions around the Cauvery river basin in the state. On Tuesday, protestors had declared bandh in Mandya disrupting traffic on the busy Bengaluru Mysuru highway and the state suspending bus services to neighbouring Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

Karnataka has put in elaborate security arrangements, including deploying Para military Rapid Action Force to ensure that there is no violence in the state.

Kannada activists called for state wide bandh on Friday saying that the verdict was a grave injustice on the state.

The government has closed access to the famous Brindavan Gardens, adjoining the Krishna Rajendra Sagar (KRS) dam, where storage of water has been low due to a weak monsoon in the region.