Cauvery row: Siddaramaiah 'will explain ground realities to SC'
Synopsis
Maintaining that Karnataka was not in a position to release Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah today said his government will explain the ground realities to the Supreme Court, which was approached by the neighbouring state over the issue.
"Tamil Nadu had petitioned the Supreme Court. We will make Supreme Court aware of the ground realities in Karnataka," Siddaramaiah told reporters.
He said, "Tamil Nadu is asking for 50 tm-ft that was supposed to be released in a normal year. Do we have a normal year?" and added that the water-level in the KRS Dam here was 93-feet instead of the 124 feet it was supposed to be in rainy season.
"A total of 50 tmc-feet water is there from four reservoirs (in the Cauvery river basin) area which was supposed to be 114 tmc feet.
"It is not that we don't want to release water, but we don't have water. We don't have water for our crops; we want 40 tmc feet water for drinking. Where do we have water to release?" asked Siddaramaiah.
The Supreme Court on September 2 will hear Tamil Nadu government's plea seeking the release of 50 TMC of water from Karnataka to meet its irrigation demands in the backdrop of the Cauvery water row.
A bench headed by Chief Justice T S Thakur had last week posted the matter to September 2 after Tamil Nadu government mentioned it and sought an urgent hearing.
In the petition, Tamil Nadu has charged Karnataka with diverting water meant for farmers during distress years for undeclared projects, in violation of the final orders of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal in 2007, apportioning the inter-state river water among the riparian states.
Karnataka had on August 27 made it clear that it was not possible for it to spare Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu given the "severe distress" it was facing with an all-party meeting deciding that the same stand should be placed before the Supreme Court.