Cauvery panel rejects TN demand for water

New Delhi (PTI): The Cauvery Supervisory Committee on Wednesday rejected Tamil Nadu's demand for its share of water saying it was not feasible, given the deficit in inflows and storage level in reservoirs in Karnataka. The Committee meeting, chaired by Union Water Resources Secretary S K Sarkar, saw the representatives of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu sparring over the water-sharing of the Cauvery river. However, a meeting of the Committee scheduled for the first week of July would review the situation. The meeting noted that availability of water was very small as compared to the average and even less than that of last year's storage. It hoped the water availability would improve during the monsoon which was expected to be good. It is noted that inflows in Karnataka is about 85 per cent deficit of the normal and the flow at Biligundulu is also 75.4 per cent deficit with respect to normal flows. "Looking at the data as cited above such as the deficit in inflows and very low storages in the reservoir in the states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, the request of Tamil Nadu for release of water by Karnataka was considered and found not feasible as of now," the meeting concluded. While Tamil Nadu demanded a total of 63 thousand million cubic feet (tmc) of Cauvery water, Karnataka said it had no water to spare for the neighbouring state. The supervisory committee was constituted by the Supreme Court last month as a pro-tem measure for implementing the Cauvery tribunal award. While the Water Resources Secretary is the Chairman of the committee, chief secretaries of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and the Union Territory of Puducherry are its members, besides officials from the Central Water Commission. After a delay of six years, the final award of the Cauvery Waters Dispute Tribunal was notified in February. The move came after the Supreme Court had rapped the Centre for delaying the decision and on February 4 set February 20 as the deadline to issue a notification. The Tribunal, comprising Chairman Justice N P Singh and members N S Rao and Sudhir Narain, in a unanimous award in February 2007 had determined the total availability of water in the Cauvery basin at 740 MC at the Lower Coleroon Anicut site.