The Hindu : Cauvery: Karnataka asked to respond by January 26

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jan 20, 2004

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Cauvery: Karnataka asked to respond by January 26

By J. Venkatesan

NEW DELHI, JAN. 19 .Participating in the Cauvery Monitoring Committee meeting here today, Tamil Nadu urged Karnataka to immediately release seven thousand million cubic feet (tmcft) of water to save the standing crops in the Cauvery delta.

The request was made by the State Chief Secretary, Lakshmi Pranesh, at the meeting attended, among others, by the Karnataka Chief Secretary, B.S. Patil, the Central Water Commission Chairman, Jayaseelam, and senior officials from Kerala and Pondicherry.

Mr. Patil said he would convey this to his Government and wanted time till the first week of February for a response. However, the Union Water Resources Secretary, V.K. Duggal, who chaired the meeting, asked Mr. Patil to respond by Republic Day, January 26.

Pondicherry complained that Tamil Nadu had not released its share of water. Ms. Pranesh disputed this and said that as per the records of the State, it had released adequate water to Pondicherry.

Briefing reporters later, Mr. Duggal said the meeting was held in an atmosphere of mutual goodwill and understanding of each other's problems and difficulties. The meeting reviewed the rainfall, change in pattern and the area affected, etc. Asked about the distress-sharing formula, he said there was no final agreement.

Mr. Patil said, "there is absolutely no water in Karnataka now. We have only 11 tmcft this time as against 21 tmcft on January 31, 2003. Even last year we had difficulty meeting the drinking water requirements. This time it is a terrible distress situation and nobody is able to appreciate our problem."

He said, "in a normal year, the Cauvery basin gets 340 tmcft of water flow. This year, Karnataka got only 140 tmcft. We have released 68 tmcft of water to Tamil Nadu. Tamil Nadu made a request for the release of 7 tmcft of water. The realistic position is totally different. Though there is no agenda about the release of water, Tamil Nadu made a request. I can't say `no', though we clearly stated that we have no water. We will place the request before the Government."

Even in the previous CMC meetings, there was no consensus in arriving at the distress-sharing formula. There was broad agreement only in respect of Karnataka's stand that rainfall in the lower and upper catchment areas between the Karnataka reservoirs and the Mettur reservoir should be taken into consideration while evolving the formula.

The disagreement was in respect of Karnataka's position that measurement at the Biligundlu gauging station set up by the Central Water Commission should be taken into consideration for quantifying the releases and Tamil Nadu reiterating that the realisation at the Mettur reservoir alone should be taken into consideration.

The formula to be arrived at by the CMC would have to be placed before the Cauvery River Authority for implementation. The CRA, headed by the Prime Minister, is vested with powers to ensure a proper implementation of the Tribunal's interim award.

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