Bengaluru: With the Cauvery Supervisory Committee (CSC) directing the state government to release only 3,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu - a dramatic drop from the 12,000 cusecs ordered by the Supreme Court on September 12 - all eyes are now on the apex court which will take up the case for hearing on Tuesday.
The CSC, which implements the final award of the Cauvery river dispute tribunal, ordered the release for ten days from September 21 to 30. Going by the CSC order, the state need not release water from its reservoirs to the neighbouring state as natural outflow of water in the Cauvery river is enough to comply with the CSC order, said sources.
"At Biligundlu measuring point on the inter-state border, an average 2,500-3,000 tmcft water naturally flows to Tamil Nadu, so we need not release water from our reservoirs," said an advocate appearing before CSC and the Supreme Court.
It remains to be seen if Karnataka will go all out to question the order of CSC in the apex court though Home Minister Dr G. Parameshwar described the order as "dissappointing" and said the government would challenge the decision. Tamil Nadu is likely to challenge the CSC order in court and seek more water, a source said.
"Compared to previous orders of the apex court, today's CSC order is favourable to us. There is no need to challenge the order before the Supreme Court. However, we will point out our distress situation before the court on Tuesday", the advocate added.
During the CSC deliberations, Union Water Resources Secretary and Chairman of the Committee, Shashi Shekhar directed Karnataka to release 3,000 cusecs water daily to TN after the two states failed to arrive at a consensus.
Speaking to mediapersons after the deliberations, Mr Shekhar said the Committee directed Karnataka to release 3,000 cusecs after taking into consideration the rainfall deficit in the last two years in Cauvery basin, inflow status at the four reservoirs, water availability and drinking water needs in summer, arrival of the North-East Monsoon and the requirements of the standing Samba crop in Tamil Nadu.
The CSC will meet frequently to assess the situation and needs in future. The next meeting will be held sometime in October. The committee will meet once a month from February 2017 onwards. Chief Secretary Arvind Jadhav represented the state at the meeting.
