Opinion: Cauvery Water Dispute - Stakeholders Need To Act

All those years when the monsoon fails to fill the reservoirs in Karnataka it has wide ramifications for the people of the state and those living in the Cauvery delta basin in adjoining Tamil Nadu. On September 13, Karnataka informed the centre that the decision of the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee (CWRC), asking the state to release water at the rate of 5,000 cusecs daily, cannot be practically implemented.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah wrote a letter to the Union Jal Shakti Minister reiterating that the state can't release water without endangering the interest of farmers for irrigation and sustenance of humans and livestock dependent on the Cauvery for drinking water. The latest controversy over Cauvery water sharing erupted after the CWRC on September 12 ordered Karnataka to release 5,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu for 15 more days starting September 13, against the demand for 12,500 cusecs of water by Tamil Nadu's DMK government.

Earlier, the Tamil Nadu government had approached the Supreme Court requesting it to direct Karnataka to release 24,000 cusecs of water daily from its reservoirs. Karnataka too filed an affidavit opposing Tamil Nadu's plea stating that their assumption is based on normal rain this year, which is not the case.