Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar has convened an all-party leaders’ meeting in Bangalore on Friday to discuss sharing of Cauvery water with Tamil Nadu.
On Thursday, Shettar had walked out of the Cauvery River Authority (CRA) meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi after the state was asked to release water to Tamil Nadu.
The all-party meet on Friday is expected to be attend ed by floor leaders in the Karnataka Assembly, including Opposition Congress leader in the Assembly, Siddaramaiah, Opposition leader in the Council R Patil, JD(S) leaders M C Nanaiah and H D Revanna and others. “After apprising them about the proceedings at the CRA meet, the CM may seek their suggestions on the future course of action to be taken by the state,” a senior government official said on conditions of anonymity.
Meanwhile on Thursday, Shettar met Governor H R Bhardwaj and briefed him about the CRA meeting and the state’s stand on the issue.Shettar had staged a walk-out from the CRA meeting after expressing Karnataka’s inability to release water to Tamil Nadu on a daily basis.
It may be recalled that following the Supreme Court (SC) direction, the state had released 10,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu till September 20. “Since the Cauvery Water Dispute Tribunal orders are challenged by all the riparian states and they are pending disposal before the SC, the states should wait for the final orders as making any inference will be unfair and might prejudice the court proceedings,” the CM told CRA.
He urged the PM to send an expert team to assess the ground realities before taking any decision. “Send an expert team to gather fact and data on water for crops, drinking water requirement and total water available in the basin. After receiving a report from the team, a decision based on ground realities may be taken,” added Shettar.
The Tribunal in its final Order on February 5, 2007 had directed Karnataka to make available 192 to inter-state border Biligundlu in a normal rain year. The final order is under challenge before the Supreme Court.
Total inflow into Karnataka reservoirs upto September 19 was about 144 tmc as against 242 tmc in a normal year, representing a shortage of about 40 per cent.
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