Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah with Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar during the all-party meeting to discuss the issue of releasing Cauvery river water to neighbouring Tamil Nadu, at Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru, Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2023.
Credit: PTI Photo
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday wrote to Union Water Resources Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat accusing Tamil Nadu of making "misleading" claims on the Cauvery water situation.
"Tamil Nadu has used a whopping 99.776 tmc in 92 days (from June 12, 2023 to September 11, 2023). The statement by Tamil Nadu in the rejoinder that it has only 5.60 lakh acres of irrigation as of August 23, 2023 is misleading and is not correct," Siddaramaiah stated in his letter to Shekhawat.
Siddaramaiah sought revision of the Cauvery Water Regulatory Committee's (CWRC) recommendation that Karnataka should release 5,000 cusec daily to Tamil Nadu.
"Karnataka does not benefit from the northeast monsoon. At the moment, the indications are that the northeast monsoon rainfall is normal. As a result, the inflow realized by Tamil Nadu at Mettur Dam from the uncontrolled catchment below KRS and Kabini dams up to Biligundlu alone will be an additional 60 tmc," Siddaramaiah argued.
"The live storage at Mettur reservoir as on September 12, 2023 is 24.233 tmc. If the additional flow of 60 tmc is taken into consideration, then Tamil Nadu has sufficient water to meet the remaining requirements," Siddaramaiah said.
Between June to September, Siddaramaiah said Tamil Nadu utilised more water than it did in the earlier distress years of 1987-88, 2002-03, 2003-04, 2012-13, 2016-17, and 2017-18.
"Tamil Nadu has opened extensive areas for growing paddy crops as if it is a normal year disregarding the distress condition in the upper catchment of Karnataka reservoirs," Siddaramaiah complained.
Siddaramaiah said releasing water to Tamil Nadu would impact farmers.
"The decision of CWRC needing Karnataka to release water from KRS and Kabini so as to realise 5,000 cusec at Biligundlu for the next 15 days cannot be practically implemented without endangering the interests of the farmers for irrigation and human and livestock depending upon the Cauvery river system for drinking water," Siddaramaiah said.