The Opposition Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) on Saturday moved the Supreme Court (SC) seeking a direction to Karnataka to immediately release Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu and comply with the binding directions issued by the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA).
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The move comes even as the Tamil Nadu government is in the process of filing an appeal before the Supreme Court.
The application, filed by DMK Farmers Wing secretary and former MP A.K.S. Vijayan, comes amid concerns over a water crisis in the state during a crucial phase of the agricultural season in the Cauvery Delta.
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Pointing out the urgency of the situation, the DMK said, “The present period is the most crucial period of the entire water year for the Cauvery Delta, and it is precisely now that the water is required to flow.”
It said the current period is critical for raising the Kuruvai (short-term) paddy crop and for undertaking preparatory and transplantation operations for the Samba (long-term) crop in the Cauvery Delta. “If water is not realised at Biligundlu now, the standing Kuruvai crop will wither before harvest, the ensuing Samba cultivation — the mainstay of the Delta — will equally be imperilled for want of both river flows and groundwater, and the fertile Cauvery Delta, the rice bowl of Tamil Nadu, faces the real and imminent danger of being reduced to a desert,” the application stated.
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The DMK moved the apex court seeking urgent directions to the Karnataka government to comply with the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee’s (CWRC) July 28 direction to release 3,500 cusecs of water per day at Biligundlu for 15 days commencing July 29. Karnataka had challenged the order before the CWMA, but its appeal was dismissed on July 30.
The application, settled by senior advocate P Wilson, pointed out that Tamil Nadu had informed the CWRC that Karnataka was not releasing water in line with the Supreme Court’s earlier decision as well as a tribunal directing it to maintain a monthly stipulated flow during the months of June to January totalling to 167.25 TMC (thousand million cubic feet). According to the plea, Tamil Nadu had told the CWRC that Karnataka must first release a backlog of about 9.46 TMC.
However, Karnataka opposed the demand and sought that the matter be kept in abeyance, citing acute distress, shortfall in inflows, low reservoir storage, drinking water requirements and conveyance losses.
The DMK claimed that even the CWRC order, later upheld by the CWMA, requiring Karnataka to ensure a flow of 3,500 cusecs per day at Biligundlu for 15 days would aggregate to about 4.5 TMC, which is far below Tamil Nadu’s entitlement even on a distress-sharing basis.
It said about 14.913 lakh acres in the Cauvery Delta depend on irrigation from the Mettur reservoir, which in turn depends on flows realised at Biligundlu from water released by Karnataka.
