Natural flow: Tamil Nadu will keep getting 2,000 cusecs of Cauvery water
Bengaluru: With or without the Supreme Court order, 1,500 to 2,000 cusecs of Cauvery river water will flow to Tamil Nadu even after October 18 when the apex court will take up the main petition of the state for consideration.
The court had ordered Karnataka to release 2,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu from October 7 to 18. Even after this deadline, water will flow to Tamil Nadu as a natural process.
If the court directs that 2000 cusecs of water should be released again, there is no need to worry, since Karnataka has released Cauvery river water from its reservoirs for irrigation and that water will regenerate and join the river system.
Even before August, nearly 26 tmc feet water has gone to TN, after it was used for irrigation purposes in the Cauvery basin. According to the advocate, even water being used for drinking purposes in Bengaluru and Cauvery basin towns also joins the river system if it is unutilised.
Karnataka is hoping that the SC will dispose the Interlocutory Application (IA) filed by TN, since the North-East Monsoon is set to hit TN in a week. According to a senor advocate in the Cauvery legal panel, the state need not to worry about the IA filed by TN. Before the matter comes up for hearing in the court, Karnataka is expecting the North-East Monsoon to hit the Cauvery basin in TN. While hearing the IA, the court may order Karnataka to release 2000 cusecs of water to TN and may not burden Karnataka further, said sources. This amount of water will anyway naturally flow to TN.
Meanwhile, a three member bench of the Supreme Court comprising Justice Dipak Misra, Justice Amitava Roy and Justice A.M. Khanwilkar will hear the SLPs filed by all four riparian states on October 18.
Karnataka is preparing for the argument on the main petition questioning the award of the Cauvery River Water Tribunal instead of countering the IA filed by Tamil Nadu. If TN brings up the IA, Karnataka is likely to seek an adjournment, the advocate added.
