Cauvery water sharing row: Union Minister's response is positive: CM Siddaramaiah

Bengaluru: We had a meeting with Union Water Power Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat regarding Cauvery water sharing. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Water Resources Minister DK Shivakumar explained in a joint press conference that Union Minister has responded positively for now.

Speaking at a press conference after a meeting with Union Water Power Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat. "We have informed the Union Minister about our plight. His response was positive. Our appeal will be heard in the Supreme Court. It is hoped that the Supreme Court will grant our plea and stay the CWMC order. So we are waiting for the Supreme Court order. Later he explained that we will decide on the next steps," said CM Siddaramaiah.

We have also asked the Prime Minister for his time. We will meet when we have time. We request the Prime Minister to call the four states and intervene. We need 106 TMC of water for crop protection, drinking water and industries. But we have convinced the Union Minister that there is only 51 TMC of water from our four reservoirs, said CM Siddaramaiah.

He said, We have drawn the attention of the Minister that the lowest rainfall in 123 years has fallen in the months of August and September and there is no inflow of reservoirs. Our farmers and various organizations are protesting. We also told them that we have no water to spare. Our legal team is trying to convince the Supreme Court about our plight. The inflow of all the four reservoirs has come down from 11 to 8 cusecs

The meeting was attended by Law Minister HK Patil, Agriculture Minister Chaluvarayaswamy, Delhi representatives of the state government like TB Jayachandra, Prakash Hukkeri, MP DK Suresh etc.