Don't Want To Fight With Tamil Nadu: Karnataka Minister On Cauvery Water Row

Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar on Monday said Karnataka and Tamil Nadu are "neighbours" adding that he doesn't want both states to fight with each other over the Cauvery issue.

After the Supreme Court today ordered to constitute a bench to hear the Cauvery River water-sharing dispute, DK Shivakumar said that the top court ordered to release 24,000 cusecs of water daily but the state is also facing water shortage.

"SC has ordered to form a separate bench. Till August, they asked us to release 10,000 cusecs. Our demand is we need time at least we are out of shortage of water in our dams," he said.

Further taking a dig at former Chief Minister and JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy's statement that the state is trying to appease Tamil Nadu by releasing the Cauvery water, Mr Shivakumar said that it is everyone's responsibility to respect each other adding that both HDK and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Basavaraj Bommai should understand that.

"We have nothing to do with what TN uses water for. Why should we question what they (Tamil Nadu) use water for?  They might be using it for their crops. We have not released more water as alleged by BJP and JDS. We know what JDS and BJP did when they were in power in the state regarding the issue. The Centre could have filed an affidavit in this regard but they didn't. We have all details of how much water we have released. I'll release all details," the Deputy CM said.

The Deputy CM further said that he cannot make statements for JDS and BJP adding that he chairs a responsible position and he is only answerable to the farmers and the Supreme Court in this issue.

"Safeguarding of farmers is our responsibility. That's what we are doing. Our people and the farmers know what BJP and JDS are doing. We released water for the benefit of our farmers," he added.

He added that the state government has called for an all-party meeting on water disputes related to Cauvery (Kaveri) on August 23.

Mr Shivakumar said that they have also called some senior Parliament members to be part of the meeting to reach a solution to this long pending issue involving Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

"We are ready to take their suggestion, if they want us to take all party delegation we are ready to take it. There are also tigers, forests and many other issues. We'll discuss everything. We have filed an appeal before Cauvery Water Authority (CWA). We'll discuss with our legal team along with all parties, we'll discuss how to behave at distress conditions and formula. It's a settled issue about water management," he said.

The Supreme Court has agreed to constitute today itself a bench to hear the Cauvery River water-sharing dispute where Tamil Nadu has sought direction to Karnataka to release 24,000 cusecs of water daily for standing crops.

The matter has been a controversial issue between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu for decades and they have been locked in a battle over the sharing of water from the Cauvery River, which is a major source of irrigation and drinking water for millions of people in the region.

The Centre formed the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT) on June 2, 1990, to adjudicate disputes between Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, and Puducherry with respect to the water-sharing capacities.

Tamil Nadu in its fresh application sought direction to the State of Karnataka to immediately release 24,000 cubic feet per second (cusecs) from its reservoirs and ensure the availability of the specified quantity of water at Biligundlu on the inter-State border for the remainder of the month for meeting the pressing demands of the standing crops.

It also urged the top court to direct Karnataka to ensure the release of 36.76 TMC (thousand million cubic feet) stipulated for September 2023 as per the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT)'s final award of February 2007 that was modified by the Supreme Court in 2018.

The application said that a direction was given to Karnataka on August 10 to release from its reservoirs 15,000 cusecs at Billigundulu on August 11 for 15 days.

Karnataka failed to fully implement the directions for the release of the stipulated quantum of 10,000 cusecs (0.864 TMC per day) as directed by CWRC, it said.

Karnataka is duty-bound to release the Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu as per the final order passed by the Tribunal as modified by this Court, the application stated.

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