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Following an all-party meeting chaired by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Sunday, the Karnataka government said it would release 8,000 cusecs of water daily to Tamil Nadu. The Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) last week had directed the state to release one TMC water (11,000 cusecs) per day to Tamil Nadu till July 31.
“The overall opinion of all party leaders is that one TMC water cannot be released daily,” Siddaramaiah told reporters. Apart from Leader of Opposition R Ashok, former CM D V Sadananda Gowda and legislators from the Cauvery command area attended the meeting held on Sunday.
“The Krishnarajasagar dam (KRS) is only 54 per cent full. Water levels at all dams of Cauvery basin (KRS, Kabini, Harangi and Hemavathy) is 63 per cent of their full capacity,” the CM said. Following the CWMA decision last week, the Karnataka government has decided to appeal the same.
Releasing 8,000 cusecs of water was based on legal advice that not releasing any water at all would put the state in a problematic position. If the rainfall situation improved, Karnataka was willing to release more water, Siddaramaiah said. As per forecasts, Karnataka was expected to receive a good spell of rainfall from July 17 to 24. “If the situation does not improve, we will reduce the outflow,” he said.
Comparing the situation last monsoon, the CM said that Karnataka faced a distress year in 2023 due to poor rainfall. As against the required outflow of 177 TMC to Tamil Nadu, we could release only 85 TMC last year, he added.
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