Karnataka told to give 3,000 cusecs cusecs water

The Cauvery supervisory committee on Monday asked Karnataka to release 3,000 cusecs of water everyday to Tamil Nadu from September 21 to 30, despite representatives from both the states not agreeing with the new order. Union water secretary Shashi Shekhar said that the decision was taken in accordance with the SC guidelines as per which if no consensus could be achieved, the chairman can make a decision based on scientific data. “We took into account inflow position, rain fall picture, daily inflow of water in the reservoirs of Karnataka, its drinking water needs besides the requirement of samba crops in Tamil Nadu before taking the final call,” Mr Shekhar, who is also the chairman of the committee said. “They (Karnataka and TN) have not agreed. The two states are free to challenge this order in the Supreme Court when it takes up the matter on Tuesday or they can agree with the order before the court,” he said after a day-long meeting, adding, “They agreed, however, to put in place a protocol for the proposed online real-time transmission of river water flow data among the Centre and four states - Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Puducherry. The states also agreed on a monthly meeting from February to take stock of the situation till the Cauvery management board comes into being.”

The next meeting of the supervisory committee, Mr Shekhar said, would take place in October and a call on what to be done after September 30 will be taken in future. The development comes a week after the committee failed to arrive at a decision on the quantum of release of water for want of adequate data. The dispute had taken a violent turn in Bengaluru, claiming two lives after the Supreme Court on September 5 asked Karnataka to release 15,000 cusecs of water daily for 10 days to Tamil Nadu to ameliorate plight of farmers. there. Later, the apex court had brought down the quantity to 12,000 cusecs till September 20. “This order is being followed by Karnataka so far,” Mr Shekhar added.

On finding a permanent solution, he said: “The issue is lack of credible data. The CWC has been asked to draw up a new protocol of online collection of data related to rainfall and flow of water on real time basis which may be shared simultaneously with all the concerned states.

The cost of developing this protocol will be shared by the three states and UT of Puducherry.” He added, “The supervisory committee will meet frequently to assess the situation and needs in the future.”

While Karnataka, during the meeting, “vehemently” opposed any release of water claiming it could cause drinking water problems in the state, Tamil Nadu maintained that the tribunal order should be adhered to.