Bagalkote (K'taka):  Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday said that the state government will place the ground realities before the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) and the Supreme Court over the release of Cauvery river water to Tamil Nadu.  

 Highlighting that the Cauvery river basin area is in a distress situation due to deficit rainfall, the chief minister said he has sought an appointment with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat to lead an all party delegation aimed at protecting the state's interest on the issue, along with other pending projects awaiting clearances.

"We don't have water to release, despite that the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee has said that we should release 5,000 cusecs of water every day (to TN). First they said 15,000 cusecs, after we requested they reduced it to 10,000 cusecs, now after our appeal they met and said 5,000 cusecs should be released," Siddaramaiah said.
Speaking to reporters here, he said, Tamil Nadu has made an appeal before the Supreme Court demanding for the release of 24,000 cusecs, which Karnataka is not in a position to honour.

"From where will we release that much without water? We have to protect the crops, provide drinking water. We will protect the interest of the state by safeguarding our drinking water needs and crops of our farmers. We will place the ground facts before the Cauvery Water Management Authority and the Supreme Court," he added.

The CWMA has directed Karnataka to release 5,000 cusecs water daily to Tamil Nadu for the next 15 days from August 29.

The CWMA took the decision based on the recommendation of the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee (CWRC).

Stating that his government is putting pressure on the Centre regarding protecting the state's interest, the chief minister said he has sought an appointment with the Prime Minister and Union Jal Shakti Minister for taking an all party delegation.

"Our (state) Water Resources Minister (D K Shivakumar), has also already met the state's legal team and has made them aware of the ground realities and has given them necessary instruction on as to what should be the line of state's argument, because the case is coming up (before Supreme Court on TN's mention) on Wednesday," he added.

Siddaramaiah said, on getting the PM's appointment, the state will also demand for gazette notification on Upper Krishna Project, environment and forest department clearance for Mahadayi project, along with seeking necessary clearances for implementing Mekedatu balancing reservoir project across Cauvery, which is opposed by Tamil Nadu.

"We are in a distress period in Cauvery basin, there is deficit rainfall, no water in reservoirs, there is fear of shortage of drinking water. Drinking water is the first priority as per the water policy," he highlighted.

Various farmers' bodies have been staging demonstrations in Mysuru, Mandya and Chamarajanagar in Cauvery heartland against the government's move of releasing water to Tamil Nadu, and opposition parties have criticised the Congress government of "doing nothing" to protect the interests of Karnataka.