Pro-Kannada groups stage protests against release of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu

Pro-Kannada organizations staged a protest by standing in the Cauvery water near Srirangapatna, Mandya on Monday. The protestors are demanding to stop the Cauvery water release to Tamil Nadu after the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee (CWRC) passed an interim order asking Karnataka to release 5,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu daily for the next 15 days.

Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar on Friday said that in the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) meeting which was held regarding the water-sharing issue, Tamil Nadu insisted that 24 thousand cusec water should be released but the state representatives had convinced the Supreme Court of the situation in Karnataka.

Karnataka Deputy CM DK Shivakumar said, “We argued that we cannot release 24 thousand cusecs of water. The CWMA had ordered to release of five thousand cusecs of water. We mentioned that we will release three thousand cusecs. Now we have again convinced the Supreme Court of the situation in Karnataka. In the past, we have left it to them to release water.”

The Karnataka Deputy CM had earlier suggested that the only solution to the long-running dispute was the Mekedatu project. The Mekedatu project aims to create a balancing reservoir on the Cauvery River in Karnataka. It involves the construction of a reservoir near Kanakapura, which would help provide drinking water to Bengaluru and support agricultural activities in the Cauvery basin 

Tamil Nadu government approached the top court seeking direction to Karnataka to release 24,000 cusecs of water daily per day from the reservoirs in Karnataka. Karnataka government also filed an affidavit last week opposing Tamil Nadu’s application saying that the application is based on an assumption that this year is the normal rainwater year.

Earlier, the Supreme Court had said that it doesn’t possess any expertise on this issue and sought a report from the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) on the quantum of release made by Karnataka. Posting the Cauvery River water-sharing issue for hearing today, a bench of Justices BR Gavai, PS Narasimha and Prashant Kumar Mishra asked CWMA, which met on August 28, to decide release of water for next fortnight in the Cauvery water-sharing dispute between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.