A meeting of floor leaders of all parties has been convened in Bangalore on Tuesday to discuss the State’s stand on the implementation of the final award of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT), Chief Minister Siddaramaiah announced on Friday.
Speaking to reporters after a review meeting with top officials of the Water Resources department and legal experts, Siddaramaiah and Water Resources Minister M B Patil said the State government will seek four weeks’ time to place its views before the recently constituted ‘Supervisory Committee,’ headed by the Union Water Resources secretary.
The committee has chief secretaries of the Cauvery basin states - Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Puducherry and Kerala - as its members.
Meeting today
The committee’s first meeting will be held in New Delhi on Saturday and Chief Secretary S V Ranganath will seek four weeks’ time to place the State’s views before the panel.
The Supervisory Committee is the off-shoot of the temporary Cauvery Water (Implementation of the Order of 2007) Scheme, 2013, notified by the Centre earlier this month. The scheme is a temporary arrangement until a permanent scheme, namely, the Cauvery Management Board, as recommended by the Cauvery Tribunal order, is constituted.
The final award makes an annual allocation of 419 tmc ft to Tamil Nadu in the entire Cauvery basin, 270 tmc ft to Karnataka, 30 tmc ft to Kerala and seven tmc ft to Puducherry.
Patil said he will soon meet senior advocate Fali Nariman, the counsel for State in Cauvery dispute in the Supreme Court, and discuss with him the implications of the final order.
Will give a fitting reply
Replying to a query on Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalitha approaching the Supreme Court, seeking compensation for crop failure in the Cauvery delta region, Patil said the State will give a fitting reply in the court. “Where is the question of releasing water (to Tamil Nadu) when there is no water for drinking in our State,” he said.
In a statement, Patil said Tamil Nadu had got more water than required for its ‘Samba’ and ‘Kuruvai’ crops.
“We have data and information to demonstrate that, in the Water Year 2012-13, Tamil Nadu got more water than required for its Samba and Kuruvai rice crops at the cost of our crops in the drought-affected area of the Cauvery Basin in Karnataka,” the statement said.
The Tamil Nadu government has approached the Supreme Court seeking Rs 2,479 crore from Karnataka for loss of crops due to non-release of Cauvery water during the irrigation year 2012-13, as per the interim award of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal.