TN water crisis: Centre should take control of Cauvery management authority, says AIADMK

As Tamil Nadu faces an acute water crisis, AIADMK on Friday demanded that the Centre should take control of the Cauvery Water Management Authority, saying it is the only way to tackle the issue.

"Tamil Nadu is a water-deficit state. The only major river system in the state is Cauvery. The solution is that the Centre should take control of the Cauvery Water Management Authority. The release of water for the state should be done immediately," AIADMK MP Vijila Sathyananth said in Rajya Sabha.

On Thursday, the Tamil Nadu government had demanded that 9.19 TMC feet of water should be released immediately in accordance with the recent decision of the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee.

Participating in a meeting of the committee, chaired by its head Naveen Kumar, officials from Tamil Nadu had said the Cauvery Water Management Board on May 21 recommended release of 9.19 TMC feet of water without delay.

Tamil Nadu and Karnataka have been locked in a decades-long dispute over the sharing of Cauvery water.

Tamil Nadu is facing acute water shortage due to erratic rainfall and reservoirs in the state have reached their lowest level.

Opposition DMK has staged protests over the water scarcity and accused the ruling AIADMK of not being serious in taking steps to address the pressing issue.