PM’s fiat to Krishna: Turn the taps on

Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee today asked Karnataka to abide by the Cauvery River Authority’s decision directing it to release 9,000 cus...

Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee today asked Karnataka to abide by the Cauvery River Authority’s decision directing it to release 9,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu daily.

At a meeting with an all-party team led by Karnataka Chief Minister S.M. Krishna, Vajpayee also said that the official-level Cauvery monitoring committee would make an on-the-spot assessment of reservoirs in Karnataka to verify the state’s claims of distress in releasing water.

The committee has been asked to report back to the Prime Minister in three days. ‘‘Till that time the CRA decision stands,’’ said Union Water

Resources Minister Arjun Charan Sethi. Vajpayee directed Karnataka to resume water outflow to Tamil Nadu, stopped three days ago after a farmer committed suicide, after an all-party team led by Tamil Nadu CM J. Jayalalithaa met him earlier seeking his intervention.

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While Karnataka in its memorandum pleaded it would be ‘‘put to great stress’’ in ensuring 9,000 cusecs of water reaches Tamil Nadu’s Mettur reservoir daily, Tamil Nadu demanded that the dams and reservoirs in Karnataka be taken over by the Centre.

Karnataka claimed that despite the desperate situation it was found itself in, it had ‘‘ensured release to the tune of 10 tmc ft’’ of water up to September 20 at Biligundlu on the states’ borders where the Central Water Commission operates a gauging station.

It said that the monsoon failure and the fast-depleting reservoirs had given rise to unrest among farmers. If the present inflows continue, active storage in its reservoirs will get exhausted in 40-45 days.

Meanwhile, both states are bracing themselves for a showdown in the Supreme Court which will hear Tamil Nadu’s petition and its latest contempt plea on Monday. In an affidavit filed before the court, the Centre failed to report whether Karnataka had complied with the court order on water release.