K’taka told to release water to Tamil Nadu

In the first meeting after its notification last month, the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) has asked Karnataka to release 31.24 TMC (thousand million cubic feet) water to Tamil Nadu in July.

According to a Supreme Court order on February 16, Karnataka needs to release 177.25 TMC to Tamil Nadu. The court had reduced the latter’s share from 192 TMC as ordained by the Cauvery Water Dispute Tribunal.

S Masood Hussain, CWMA chairman, said it has asked Karnataka to release the balance water after adjusting the surplus released in June. Tamil Nadu, on the other hand, has been asked to continue supplying water to Puducherry.

Representatives of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka and Puducherry attended the meeting along with representatives from Centre. The meeting was headed by Hussain, who is chairman of the Central Water Commission and has been been given the charge of chairman of CWMA as well.

The authority’s order came after Karnataka had made public its objection to the composition of CWMA on June 30. In an all-party meeting, BJP, Congress and JD(S) had given the state government the green signal to approach SC challenging the formation of Cauvery Management Committee and the Cauvery Regulatory Authority by the Centre.

Although Hussain said the meeting took place in a cordial atmosphere, officials privy to the meeting said Karnataka raised objections about the distribution of water and is wary of “outside” interference in the distribution.