K'taka to move SC challenging Cauvery panel direction to release water: CM

The Cauvery Water Regulation Committee's direction to Karnataka to release water to Tamil Nadu will be challenged before the Supreme Court, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said on Wednesday.

The panel had directed Karnataka to release water at the rate of 3,000 cubic feet per second (cusecs) to the neighbouring state from September 28 to October 15.

Siddaramaiah said he had spoken to the state's legal team, which opined that it should be challenged in the apex court.

"We are challenging the order of the Regulation Committee before the Supreme Court. We don't have water to give," the chief minister told reporters at Male Mahadeshwara Hills in this district.

Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar had on Tuesday expressed satisfaction over the CWRC rejecting the request of Tamil Nadu, which wanted Karnataka to release 12,000 cusecs. The committee recommended Karnataka to release 3,000 cusecs of water to the neighbouring state.

Karnataka submitted before CWRC at its meeting in New Delhi on Tuesday the shortfall in cumulative inflows to its four reservoirs in the Cauvery basin up to September 25, which hold just 53.04 per cent of their capacity.

According to Karnataka officials, due to the failure of the south-west monsoon (from June to September) this year, there is no sufficient storage in the four reservoirs and the State is facing such a grave situation that it is finding it extremely difficult even to cater to the drinking water requirements, let alone supplying for irrigation.

The rainfall received in Karnataka this year in August and September is the lowest in the last 123 years, they said.