Cauvery panel to go by tribunal award

Chennai: Tamil Nadu will go to the Cauvery Supervisory Committee meeting on Monday in New Delhi with greater hope of getting water from the river Cauvery that is its rightful due as the panel is reported to have made up its mind to strictly adhere to the final order of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT).

The meeting of the CSC, which comes on a direction from the Supreme Court, is expected to be stormy with Tamil Nadu and Karnataka sticking to their known stands. The Tamil Nadu Government delegation, led by Chief Secretary P. Rama Mohana Rao, will make a case passionately for the release of 64.78 tmcft of water pending to be released to the state by Karnataka as on September 5.

The TN Government wants the Karnataka Government to stick to the monthly schedule of release of water as mandated (though temporarily) by the order published in the Gazette of India based on the award by the CWDT.

“Much stress would be laid on this point since the water is needed for beginning the cultivation of several crops by farmers in the Cauvery Delta region,” a senior official said.

On the eve of the meeting, a senior official of the CSC said the panel headed by Union Water Resources Secretary Shashi Shekhar would strictly adhere to the final order of the CWDT while deciding on the quantum of the river water to be released to TN and other states as directed by the SC.

The official also seemed to suggest that the demand by Karnataka government for an inspection by experts to assess the “realities” in the area was impractical since the CSC was bound by orders of the Supreme Court.

“We would adhere strictly to the final orders of the CWDT and what the SC says. The order of the Supreme Court will be implemented in letter and spirit,” he said.

The Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal had in a unanimous decision in 2007 allotted 419 tmcft to Tamil Nadu in the entire Cauvery basin, 270 tmcft to Karnataka, 30 tmcft to Kerala and 7 tmcft to Puducherry. Though the award was given in 2007, the Union government notified it in the gazette only in 2013.

While notifying the order in the gazette, it was said that Karnataka would release 192 tmcft of water to Tamil Nadu every year by specifying a monthly schedule.

It said the Karnataka government should release 10 tmcft in June, followed by 34 tmcft in July, 50 tmcft in August, 40 tmcft in September, 22 tmcft in October, 15 tmcft in November and 8 tmcft in December. The rest 13 tmcft would be released between January and May.