Karnataka facing severe distress, water should be shared on 'distress pro rata basis': CM

Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], Aug. 27 (ANI): As the Tamil Nadu Government in their application filed before the Supreme Court made a prayer that the court should direct the Government of Karnataka to release 50tmcf (thousand million cubic feet) of water as per the normal year, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday said there is no normal year in Karnataka, and they are facing a severe distressed year, and thus, both the state should share the water as per distress pro rata basis. "Today, there is no normal year in Karnataka, and we are facing a severe distressed year. Both the state should share the water as per distress pro rata (proportional) basis." Holding a press conference after a meeting all MPs representing Karnataka, central ministers from Karnataka, leaders of opposition parties and ministers coming from the Cauvery basin, the chief minister said, "All the members, who have attended this meeting, gave a suggestion that our government should explain and make a submission to the Supreme Court about what the ground reality is in Karnataka as far as the water storage in our reservoirs concerned." Divulging detail of the ground realities, Siddaramaiah said, "In Karnataka, today the gross capacity of all the four reservoirs in Cauvery basin is under 40tmcf of water, while the live storage is only under 4tmcf. But today, the storage in all the four reservoirs we are having only 51 tmcf of water." "So, as per the suggestions of all the leaders, we should bring the ground realities to the notice of the SC and we require for drinking purpose about 40tmcf of water but we are having only 51tmcf of water in all the four reservoirs," he said. He added that the leaders at the meeting were of opinion that Karnataka should place the ground realities before the Supreme Court. Earlier today, seeking withdrawal of recommendation made by an Expert Appraisal Committee of the of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change to build a dam on Siruvani river at Attappady, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to intervene into the matter. The recommendation to construct a dam on Siruvani was made by an Expert Appraisal Committee for River Valley and Hydroelectric Projects of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change for conducting an Environmental Impact Assessment (EAI) study on the proposal of the Government of Kerala. In a press release, the Tamil Nadu Government alleged that the proposal was passed without being discussed with them. As per the state government, Siruvani river is Sub-tributory of Cauvery, which is an inter-state river and building a dam on it for the Attappady Valley Irrigation Project is violation of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal Final Order. This is the second dam being constructed on Siruvani after 1984. Meanwhile, the proposal has stoked fear of shortage of drinking and irrigation water in Coimbatore, Erode and Tirupur districts. On Friday, Ettimadai villagers staged a protest along the Tamil Nadu border, blocking traffic to Kerala, demanding Kerala to scrap the construction of a second dam on the river. The new dam is proposed to be built downstream the existing reservoir and about 44 km from Coimbatore. The Siruvani dam supplies water to about 28 wards of Coimbatore, consumed by nearly seven-lakh people. (ANI)