Cauvery regulatory panel asks Karnataka to release 2,600 cusecs for Tamil Nadu
The Cauvery Water Regulation Committee (CWRC) Tuesday asked the Karnataka government to release 2,600 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu at Biligundlu from 1st November to 15th November.
The CWRC in its 89th meeting passed the order after considering the submissions from both the Karnataka and Tamil Nadu governments, the report said.
Tamil Nadu demanded that Karnataka has to release 13,000 cusecs of water for the next 15 days (which works out to 16.90 TMC), but the Karnataka government said that it doesn’t have enough water to release from the basin.
The Karnataka government also made a submission before CWRC requesting to report to the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) that in light of almost nil inflow into four reservoirs, the state will not be able to release any water from its reservoirs, so as to reach Biligundlu except that would be contributed from the uncontrolled catchment.
Earlier, the Karnataka government had filed a review petition against the order both in the Supreme Court and in the CWMA.
Karnataka government had cited a severe drought in parts of its state to refuse the supply of water to Tamil Nadu. Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar on October 5 said that cumulative inflows into the reservoirs in Karnataka’s Cauvery basin are decreasing.