Bengaluru: Improving water levels in the Cauvery basin reservoirs due to good rain have come to the rescue of Karnataka. The state legis lature on Monday adopted a "modified" resolution to release water to meet drinking requirements and to save withering crops.
The move is likely to help Karnataka dispel the charge of having committed contempt of court for refusing to release water on SC directives. It could also help ward off the notion that Karnataka is a "rogue" riparian state.Even as the houses were debating the resolution, the court questioned Karnataka over its defiance in not releasing water to TN, saying the state should "show its bona fides by obeying orders".
Indicating it could take a harsh decision, the SC asked Karnataka to apprise it by 2pm on Tuesday whether it has released water to TN. Last week, the SC asked Karnataka to release 6,000 cusecs daily from October 1 to 6, saying no one knows when the wrath of the law would fall on it. The court said this was the last op portunity for Karnataka.
Sources said the government plans to release at least 6,000 cusecs daily for six days from Monday night to evade the Supreme Court's wrath. The sluices of the Krishnaraja Sagar (KRS) dam may be opened around 11pm, sources said. The water should reach Biligundlu late Friday night and from thereon to Tamil Nadu's farmers in about a week's time.
Explaining the U-turn, chief minister Siddaramaiah told the legislative assembly: "We had taken a decision against releasing Cauvery water as availability in the four reservoirs was just enough to meet the drinking water requirements of Bengaluru, Mysuru, Mandya and 600 villages. But in the past 10 days, there has been inflow of around 6.5 tmcft of water into the reservoirs because of rain in the catchment area.Now that we are in a position to meet the drinking water requirements (about 23.3 tmcft) till June 2017, we are releasing the excess water. This way, we are also acknowledging the apex court's directive to release water."
He said water levels in the reservoirs of Harangi, Hemavathi, Kabini and KRS in the Cauvery basin had risen to 34.13 tmcft from 27.60 tmcft 10 days ago, when Karnataka had expressed its inability to follow the court directive to release water to Tamil Nadu.The CM, however, maintained that water was being released through the canals to the state's farmers to ensure their standing crop was not affected.
Though the government did not specify how and when water would be released, sources said: "Water will eventually flow to Tamil Nadu. However, the government does not want to make it obvious, fearing a political backlash in the Cauvery basin. Moreover, by releasing excess water, the state government will send a message to the court that it has not defied the latter's orders."
The CM also made it clear the government neither had any intentions of defying the court nor working outside the federal system. "We faced a drinking water crisis as storage levels plummeted in the reservoirs and it has been a distress year for us, so we could not release water. In this country , access to drinking water is a fundamental right and the state is dutybound to provide water to every individual. This is precisely what the National Water Policy states and we have followed the constitutional obligation by giving high priority to drinking water."
Though the BJP endorsed the move to release water, it wanted the government to make it clear it was not releasing water to Tamil Nadu. JD (S) leader HD Kumaraswamy said his party was supporting the stand taken by the government as the decision was in the interest of farmers and the state. "We will not play politics here," he said.
The move is likely to help Karnataka dispel the charge of having committed contempt of court for refusing to release water on SC directives. It could also help ward off the notion that Karnataka is a "rogue" riparian state.Even as the houses were debating the resolution, the court questioned Karnataka over its defiance in not releasing water to TN, saying the state should "show its bona fides by obeying orders".
Indicating it could take a harsh decision, the SC asked Karnataka to apprise it by 2pm on Tuesday whether it has released water to TN. Last week, the SC asked Karnataka to release 6,000 cusecs daily from October 1 to 6, saying no one knows when the wrath of the law would fall on it. The court said this was the last op portunity for Karnataka.
Sources said the government plans to release at least 6,000 cusecs daily for six days from Monday night to evade the Supreme Court's wrath. The sluices of the Krishnaraja Sagar (KRS) dam may be opened around 11pm, sources said. The water should reach Biligundlu late Friday night and from thereon to Tamil Nadu's farmers in about a week's time.
Explaining the U-turn, chief minister Siddaramaiah told the legislative assembly: "We had taken a decision against releasing Cauvery water as availability in the four reservoirs was just enough to meet the drinking water requirements of Bengaluru, Mysuru, Mandya and 600 villages. But in the past 10 days, there has been inflow of around 6.5 tmcft of water into the reservoirs because of rain in the catchment area.Now that we are in a position to meet the drinking water requirements (about 23.3 tmcft) till June 2017, we are releasing the excess water. This way, we are also acknowledging the apex court's directive to release water."
He said water levels in the reservoirs of Harangi, Hemavathi, Kabini and KRS in the Cauvery basin had risen to 34.13 tmcft from 27.60 tmcft 10 days ago, when Karnataka had expressed its inability to follow the court directive to release water to Tamil Nadu.The CM, however, maintained that water was being released through the canals to the state's farmers to ensure their standing crop was not affected.
Though the government did not specify how and when water would be released, sources said: "Water will eventually flow to Tamil Nadu. However, the government does not want to make it obvious, fearing a political backlash in the Cauvery basin. Moreover, by releasing excess water, the state government will send a message to the court that it has not defied the latter's orders."
The CM also made it clear the government neither had any intentions of defying the court nor working outside the federal system. "We faced a drinking water crisis as storage levels plummeted in the reservoirs and it has been a distress year for us, so we could not release water. In this country , access to drinking water is a fundamental right and the state is dutybound to provide water to every individual. This is precisely what the National Water Policy states and we have followed the constitutional obligation by giving high priority to drinking water."
Though the BJP endorsed the move to release water, it wanted the government to make it clear it was not releasing water to Tamil Nadu. JD (S) leader HD Kumaraswamy said his party was supporting the stand taken by the government as the decision was in the interest of farmers and the state. "We will not play politics here," he said.