Cauvery supervisory panel meets today
NEW DELHI (DHNS): The Cauvery Supervisory Committee headed by Union Water Resources Secretary Shashi Shekhar will meet on Monday and discuss the issue of the release of water from Karnataka to Tamil Nadu.
Shekhar and the Central Water Commission are already studying the water-related data submitted by the two states, including storage, withdrawal of water, utilisation, crop pattern, variation in rainfall and impact on the actual run-off over a period of 29 years in their respective Cauvery basin areas, an official from the ministry said.
The panel will discuss the data in Monday’s meeting and if required, more information will be sought from the states, the official said. The decision on the release of water from the upper riparian state to lower riparian states will be taken only after the panel is satisfied with the available data.
“Before passing the order, the committee will discuss the issue in detail. If more information is required from the states, the meeting will be deferred. The states will be asked to submit additional data. No decision will be taken in a hurry,” the official said. The decision will be in accordance with the final order passed by the Cauvery Water Dispute Tribunal, he added.
The panel had failed to take any decision on September 12 and had sought information related to the water usage and rainfall from the Cauvery basin states by September 15, and deferred the meeting to September 19. The meeting will be attended by the chief secretaries of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Kerala.
The Supreme Court in an interim order on September 5 had asked Karnataka to release 15,000 cusecs of Cauvery water daily for 10 days to Tamil Nadu. When Karnataka appealed against the order and sought its modification on September 11, the court asked the state to release a reduced quantum of 12,000 cusecs of water daily to Tamil Nadu till September 20. The apex court will again hear the matter on September 20.
State Water Resources Minister M B Patil and Chief Secretary Arvind Jadhav, who were in Delhi for the past two days, held a series of meetings with officials from the Karnataka Water Resources department as well as the state’s legal team on the issues to be raised in Monday’s meeting.