Shettar defends Cauvery water release to Tamil Nadu

Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar on Sunday defended the State’s stand to release Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu as inevitable because the government had to comply with the Supreme Court directive.

Karnataka started releasing water to Tamil Nadu from Krishna Raja Sagara and Kabini reservoirs from Saturday night. “We will comply with the court order and at the same time continue the legal fight. A review petition will be filed in the SC in a day or two,” a grim-faced Shettar told mediapersons.

“As Chief Minister, I am doing everything possible to protect the interests of our farmers,” he said appealing to the people to maintain peace and cooperate with the government.

Maintaining that there is no set back for the state in the ongoing legal battle with Tamil Nadu over water sharing dispute, Shettar said, “Our counsel Fali S Nariman advised us to release water keeping the state’s interests in mind. By doing so, we can go back to the Supreme Court and appeal against its orders. It will also help us in the main petition that is pending before the court.”

The Chief Minister said though it was difficult for the state to release water due to this year’s severe drought situation, but the government has to respect the apex court order. “We will try to convince the SC by presenting the facts before it.”

He urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who is also the chairman of the Cauvery River Authority (CRA), to send an expert team to evaluate ground situation in Karnataka.

He had made a similar demand during the CRA meeting on October 19.

‘PM’s Mistake’

Meanwhile, Water Resources Minister Basavaraj Bommai said Prime Minister has done injustice to Karnataka and because of his mistake people of the state have to suffer. “The PM’s decision was ad-hoc, arbitrary and taken without assessing the ground realities,” he said.

Bommai defended Karnataka delegation’s move of walking out of the CRA meeting. “We cannot meekly accept the CRA direction that is against our interests. We protested against the CRA order and have filed a review petition before it,” he said.

The state government will present all the facts before Cauvery Monitoring Committee meeting to be held on October 8, he added.