Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar on Wednesday said that Karnataka will reduce the amount of Cauvery water released to neighbouring Tamil Nadu by making the Supreme Court understand the “situation” prevailing in his state.
Supreme Court is scheduled to hear the Tamil Nadu government’s plea seeking direction to Karnataka to release 24,000 cusecs of water daily starting from August 14 to the end of the month- from the reservoirs in Karnataka on Friday.
“I’m going to Delhi tomorrow to meet our legal team. The hearing( on TN’s plea on Cauvery water) will be coming on Friday. All ready our department officials argued very well after Tamil Nadu demanded 24-25 TMC. we said we can give 3 thousand cusecs,” DK Shivakumar said.
“We will discuss how much we can reduce( The water released to Tamil Nadu) by making the court understand the situation prevailing in the state. We don’t want keys to be handed over to others, at present keys are with us, and we have to safeguard our farmers,” Reacting to BJP’s criticism that the government failed to protect the interest of the state he said: “I ask them what they did when they were in power who are making several political comments now?”
Tamil Nadu urged the SC to direct Karnataka to ensure the stipulated releases for the month of September 2023, which is 36.76 tmc ft as per the Cauvery Tribunal award. The Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) on Tuesday directed Karnataka to release 5,000 cubic feet per second (cusecs) of water to Tamil Nadu for the next 15 days — up to September 12.