Bengaluru, July 12, 2024 – Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah announced on Friday that the state will appeal against the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee’s (CWRC) directive to release one TMC (thousand million cubic feet) of Cauvery river water daily to Tamil Nadu until the end of the month. This decision follows a meeting with Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar, ministers from the Cauvery river basin area, and other officials. An all-party meeting is scheduled for July 14 to decide the state’s next steps.
“Despite forecasts for normal rains, there has been a 28% deficit in inflow so far,” Siddaramaiah stated. “We clearly conveyed this to the CWRC and requested that no decision be made until the end of July. However, the CWRC has still mandated the release of one TMC of water daily from July 12.”
The Chief Minister emphasized the need for an appeal against this order before the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA). “All parties in Karnataka are united on this water issue. Therefore, an all-party meeting will be held on July 14,” he said.
Union Ministers, Members of Parliament from both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, and MLAs from the Cauvery river basin region will be invited to the meeting. The government plans to decide its next move with collective consensus.
Siddaramaiah noted that 5000 cusecs of water are currently being released to Tamil Nadu at Biligundlu, equivalent to the Kabini dam’s inflow. He highlighted the limited water availability, with only 60 TMC of water across the four reservoirs in the Cauvery basin in Karnataka. “We also need to provide water for agricultural activities. Considering the deficit in rainfall, we have requested to wait until the end of July,” he added.
