Bengaluru: The Karnataka government has offered to ‘sit down and resolve’ the decades-old Cauvery river dispute with Tamil Nadu as lack of rains continue to exacerbate the shortage of water and raise tensions between the two non-BJP-ruled states.
Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister and Congress leader D.K. Shivakumar told reporters in Bengaluru Saturday, “We don’t want to fight with Tamil Nadu. The Supreme Court order on this has come and I am not sure they are aware of the ground realities. They (people of Tamil Nadu) are our brothers. We cannot go to war (over this). So, we have to sit and resolve this.”
The Congress, which is in power in Karnataka, is an ally of the ruling M.K. Stalin-led Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) in Tamil Nadu.
A three-judge bench of the apex court had in its 2018 verdict ordered Karnataka to release 177.25 tmcft of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu. According to the verdict, Karnataka was to get 284.74 tmcft water per year as against Tamil Nadu’s 404.25 tmcft — a decrease of 14.75 tmcft compared to the 2007 allotment to Tamil Nadu by the Cauvery Water Dispute Tribunal (CWDT).
The Cauvery river water dispute has defined politics and social life on both sides of the Karnataka-Tamil Nadu border for decades and the demand for water is an annual affair, especially during drought years.
The Cauvery river basin originates in Karnataka and flows through Tamil Nadu and parts of Puducherry and Kerala before it enters the Bay of Bengal. Of its total catchment area of 81,155 square km, 34,273 km lies in Karnataka, 44,016 square km in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry and about 2,866 square km in Kerala.
Monsoons have been weak this year, especially in Karnataka, according to information from the state disaster management department. According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD) , the southern peninsula received just 88.6 mm of rainfall from June 1-30 as against the normal of 161.0 mm, registering a decline of 45 percent.
There are four major reservoirs in the Cauvery basin — Harangi, Hemavathi, KRS and Kabini. The water levels in most of these reservoirs is lower than last year, data shows.
Shivakumar, who also holds the water resources and Bengaluru city development portfolios, said he has called for a meeting with his Tamil Nadu counterparts.
“This year, there is no water even if they (Tamil Nadu) ask. There is no water to drink and even in Bengaluru we are facing a drinking water problem. There is a meeting (scheduled) for (July) 8 or 9. And I have convened it at KRS (Krishna Raja Sagara dam) itself for them to see the reality,” he had told reporters in New Delhi Friday.
During his visit to the national capital, Shivakumar also met Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat.
Both states have claimed ‘injustice’ in water allocation and have asked the Union to negotiate fresh terms.
The Karnataka government has sought permission to go ahead with the contentious Mekedatu project, a reservoir-cum-drinking water project which will generate 400 MW of power and additionally utilise 4.75 thousand million cubic feet of water for drinking and domestic needs in the state and particularly Bengaluru.
Tamil Nadu has objected to the project although Karnataka has assured it that this water would be used only after giving what is due to the neighbouring states as per the 2018 Supreme Court order.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)