Dharam releases water, Karunanidhi relieved

over the telephone and requested him to release water to Tamil Nadu.

The state was receiving unprecedented rains over the last few days and consequently, Karnataka had decided to release 14,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu. People living in the low-lying areas along the Cauvery in Karnataka, had been asked to move to safer locations as the release of water would continue for the next three days, Dharam Singh said.

A decision on further releases would be taken after reviewing the situation, and this would depend on inflows. In his telephonic conversation, the Prime Minister had requested him to release some water to Tamil Nadu to help the farmers, Singh said.

In the wake of higher inflows into the reservoir, the irrigation department officials had suggested that water had to be let out keeping in mind the dam’s safety, as the water level was about to touch the danger mark, Singh said. According to official sources, Karnataka is expected to release about three tmc ft of water to Tamil Nadu.

Meanwhile, a jubilant DMK president, M. Karunanidhi, hailed the PM and Congress president Sonia Gandhi for having ‘‘borught solace to the suffering farmers of Tamil Nadu’’. In identical letters to the Prime Minister and the Congress chief, Karunanidhi thanked them for their sincere response to the pleas of the DMK and its allies. He also sent a letter to Karnataka CM Dharam Singh, for releasing Cauvery waters.

Though Karnataka has agreed to drain off only the excess waters to Tamil Nadu, following abundant rainfall in its catchment areas, the DMK chief is all the same, very relieved, as Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa had laid the onus of getting TN’s due share of the Cauvery waters, on him. Had the rains failed, and had Karnataka refused to release water, Karunanidhi would have faced a huge political embarrassment, especially as he himself hails from the Cauvery delta region.