India
oi-Madhuri Adnal
A day after pro-Kannada organisations called for a Karnataka bandh on August 13 to protest the Cauvery Water Management Authority’s (CWMA) directive directing the state to release 3,500 cusecs of water daily to Tamil Nadu for 15 days, the Opposition Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) in Tamil Nadu has moved the Supreme Court, seeking immediate enforcement of the authority’s order.
The development comes even as the Vijay-led Tamil Nadu government is preparing to challenge the CWMA’s decision before the apex court. In its separate plea, the DMK sought urgent implementation of the authority’s directions, arguing that Karnataka had failed to comply with both the Supreme Court’s earlier judgment and the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal’s monthly water release schedule.
The DMK has petitioned the Supreme Court to enforce the Cauvery Water Management Authority’s order directing Karnataka to release 3,500 cusecs of water daily to Tamil Nadu for 15 days, citing farmer needs amidst Karnataka’s opposition due to low inflows.
The application was filed by DMK Farmers Wing secretary and former MP A.K.S. Vijayan and settled by senior advocate P. Wilson. It stated that Tamil Nadu had informed the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee (CWRC) that Karnataka was yet to release about 9.46 TMC of backlog water.
The DMK argued that timely water release is critical for farmers in the Cauvery Delta, where the standing Kuruvai crop and the ongoing transplantation of the Samba crop depend on adequate irrigation. Any further delay, it said, could seriously affect cultivation across the delta region.
According to the party, nearly 14.913 lakh acres in the Cauvery Delta rely on irrigation from the Mettur reservoir, which is replenished by water released by Karnataka at Biligundlu.
In its plea, the DMK urged the Supreme Court to direct Karnataka to implement the CWRC’s July 28 order, which requires the state to release 3,500 cusecs of water per day at Biligundlu for 15 days from July 29. Karnataka had challenged the directive before the CWMA, but its appeal was rejected on July 30.
Karnataka, however, opposed the release, citing poor inflows, low reservoir storage, drinking water requirements and transmission losses. The DMK countered that even the CWRC’s order, later upheld by the CWMA, would result in only around 4.5 TMC of water over 15 days, which is much lower than Tamil Nadu’s claimed entitlement.
Meanwhile, Karnataka Chief Minister DK Shivakumar has convened an all-party meeting at 11 am on Sunday (August 2) at his official residence to discuss the Cauvery dispute and decide the state’s response to the latest directions issued by the CWRC.
