New Delhi, September 20
Union Water Resources Minister Arjun Charan Sethi today asked Karnataka to honour the Cauvery River Authority (CRA) instructions and release 9,000 cusecs of water from the Kabini reservoir even as the Karnataka Government accused Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa of trying to politicise the Cauvery water issue.
Mr Sethi, who apprised Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee of the situation arising out of the Karnataka Government’s Cabinet decision to stop release of waters to Tamil Nadu, urged both Karnataka and Tamil Nadu to exercise restraint in the present situation as many parts of the country were under one of the worst droughts in recent years.
Accepting that both the states were facing an acute situation, Mr Sethi stressed that “Karnataka should release water from Kabini as agreed earlier.”
“They should honour the decision of the CRA, presided over by the Prime Minister,” Mr Sethi said.
The Karnataka Cabinet took the decision to stop the release of water from the Kabini reservoir following a series of protests in basin districts and a farmer’s suicide on September 18.
Meanwhile, accusing Ms Jayalalithaa of trying to politicise the Cauvery water issue, Karnataka Home Minister Mallikarjun Kharge accused her of trying to put unnecessary pressure by politicising the issue.
“She (Ms Jayalalithaa) is trying to take political mileage out of the issue. She knows there is no water in Cauvery and our farmers are in distress because of this, but is trying to put unnecessary pressure,” Mr Kharge told newspersons here.
“When there was sufficient water in the river, we were releasing the stipulated quantum to Tamil Nadu. Now everyone should understand our difficulties,” Mr Kharge, who met Union Agriculture Minister Ajit Singh, said.
The Supreme Court had ordered Karnataka to release 1.25 tmc ft of water to Tamil Nadu every day from September 4 until a decision by the CRA which instructed Karnataka to release 9,000 cusecs per day for September and October.
The Tamil Nadu petition questioning the decision of the CRA on the issue is coming up before the Supreme Court on September 23 and an all-party meeting of the Karnataka Legislature has been convened here in Delhi tomorrow by Chief Minister S M Krishna to finalise its stand.
The Cabinet has also decided to convene an emergency session of the Karnataka Legislature on September 24.
