Updated by admin on
Sunday, September 06, 2015 10:57 AM IST
Jaya urges Modi to intervene in Cauvery issue:
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on September 5 wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking his intervention in the Cauvery issue and urged him to advise
the Karnataka Government to release 27.557 TMC ft. of water that is due to Tamil Nadu till the end of August 2015 under the Cauvery Tribunal award.
Jayalalithaa requested the Prime Minister to ensure that Karnataka releases water in accordance with the Final Order of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal in the
coming months.
In a letter to Modi, she brought to his attention the default by the Karnataka Government in not adhering to the schedule of release of Cauvery water as stipulated by
the Tribunal in its Final Order of February 2007.
The Government of Karnataka, which is the upper riparian State, is duty-bound to ensure the stipulated monthly flows in 10 daily intervals during every water year, as
per the Final Order of the Tribunal as notified by the Government of India in February 2013, giving it the status of a decree of the Supreme Court, she said.
The Chief Minister said: “On account of Karnataka’s default, Mettur Reservoir could not be opened on the scheduled date of 12th June this year for the farmers to raise
the Kuruvai Crop in the Cauvery Delta. However, the Mettur Reservoir was opened on August 9 with the available quantity of 60.411 TMC ft to enable the farmers to raise
at least one single Samba Crop and the agricultural operations are in full swing”.
Jayalalithaa said the storage in Mettur Reservoir as on Friday was only 50.552 TMC ft. and the inflow continued to dwindle. “However, Karnataka has enough storage in
its 4 major Reservoirs and has been releasing water from July for its irrigation,” she said.
“As against the quantity of 94 TMC ft. of water due to Tamil Nadu at Billigundulu as per the Final Order of the Tribunal, as on August 31, only a meagre quantity of
66.443 TMC ft. has been released. Thus, there is a huge shortfall of 27.557 TMC ft. Instead of releasing our legitimate share as per the Final Order of the Tribunal,
Karnataka continues to utilise all the water in its Reservoirs as if it owns the Cauvery River with scant regard to the plight of the farmers in Tamil Nadu,” the Chief Minister has said.
She said her repeated requests for the formation of the Cauvery Management Board and the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee have not yet been acceded to by the Government of India.
