Deve Gowda expresses displeasure over state govt's handling of Cauvery row

Amid protests in Karnataka against the release of Cauvery river water to Tamil Nadu, JD(S) chief H D Deve Gowda on Friday expressed displeasure over the Congress government's handling of the inter-state water dispute.

The Supreme Court has refused to interfere with the order of the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) and the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee directing the Karnataka government to release 5,000 cusecs of water per day to Tamil Nadu for 15 days.

Karnataka has been maintaining that it is not in a position to release water, taking into account its own need for drinking water and irrigation in the Cauvery basin areas, as there has been water scarcity due to deficit monsoon rains.

"The state officials are not attending CWMA meetings physically. They are participating in it virtually... Will things work if you attend virtual meetings?" Gowda, a former prime minister, told reporters expressing dissatisfaction over the way the issue was being handled.

He said that since the Supreme Court has already pronounced its decision on the Cauvery water issue, he does not want to comment on it as a former prime minister.

Gowda, however, said that he had raised the Cauvery issue in the Rajya Sabha during the just concluded session of Parliament. But none of the MPs from the state, including Leader of Opposition Mallikarnju Kharge, spoke about it.

Farmers' bodies and members of various organisations in Karnataka, especially in the Cauvery heartland of Mandya and Mysuru, have been holding protests for the last few days against the release of the river water to Tamil Nadu. Farmers body Raitha Hitharakshana Samiti has also called a bandh in Mandya on Saturday.

The Tamil Nadu government had approached the apex court seeking an increase in the share of water to 7,200 cusecs from 5,000 cusecs per day. However, the court refused to interfere in the CWMA orders.