The Cauvery Water Management Authority has ordered Karnataka to release 9.19 tmcft of water to Tamil Nadu from river Cauvery as part of the June quota.
The order was issued in a meeting of the authority in Central Water Commission’s office in New Delhi on Tuesday, in which officials from the governments of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka participated. The meeting was held under the leadership of the Chairman of the Authority, S Masood Hussain.
The Authority ordered the government of Karnataka to release 9.19 tmcft of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu in June. This order came after the representatives from Tamil Nadu placed a request in the meeting, to direct Karnataka to release water in time for the Kuruvai crops in the delta districts of Tamil Nadu. Reports also stated that Mekedatu issue was not discussed in Tuesday’s meeting.
SK Prabakaran, Principal Secretary, Public Works Department, Tamil Nadu, spoke to the reporters after the meeting and said that people are eagerly awaiting water for cultivation of Kuruvai crops in Tamil Nadu. “We placed our demand to the Authority today, asking them to order water release without any shortfall. The Authority conducted discussions on that and has assured that it will provide the water share as mandated for June and has decided to give 9.19 tmcft water to Tamil Nadu,” he said.
He also added that Tamil Nadu has expressed strong reservations on Mekedatu project and that a case is pending in the court. “We had hence told the Authority to not take up the topic for discussion in today’s meeting. This was accepted by the Authority and Mekedatu was not discussed today,” he said.
The last meeting of the Authority was held in December 2018, when the Tamil Nadu representatives recorded strong reservations against the go-ahead issued to Karnataka to prepare Detailed Project Report (DPR) for Mekedatu project. Mekedatu project involves building a multipurpose balancing reservoir at Mekedatu across Cauvery in Ramanagara district in Karnataka.
The Supreme Court had, in May 2018, delivered the final verdict in the decades-long dispute over Cauvery water sharing between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. According to the verdict, Karnataka should release 177.25 tmcft water from Billigundlu dam on Tamil Nadu-Karnataka border to Mettur dam on Cauvery every year to Tamil Nadu for the next 15 years.
The Cauvery Water Management Authority was put in place by the government of India in June 2018 following an order by the Cauvery Water Dispute Tribunal, which was partially upheld by the Supreme Court. The first meeting of the CWMA was conducted on July 2, 2018 in New Delhi.
Source: The News Minute