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CHENNAI:
While an all-party meeting was underway over the Cauvery water dispute in Karnataka, DMK spokesperson TKS Elangovan on Wednesday said that the neighbouring state does not have any authority to deny water to Tamil Nadu.
The DMK spokesperson said that the state is not asking for the entire water but only their share as per the agreement.
“Internationally, any river, or water shouldn’t be denied to the lower state or areas. That’s the international convention accepted everywhere. We are not asking for the entire water…we only want to share water as per the agreement and it is the duty of the Cauvery Water Management Authority to ensure that water is divided amongst various states like Puducherry, Tamil Nadu based on the availability of water,” Elangovan said.
“They (Karnataka government) have to agree they can’t deny it…They have no authority to do that,” he added.
Meanwhile, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday after the all-party meeting said that the state is not in a position to release water to its adjacent state, Tamil Nadu as per the Supreme Court order.
“We have faced a severe deficit of rain in August compared to the previous 100 years. We don’t have water, that’s why we are not in a position to release water as per the SC order,” Siddaramaiah said speaking to reporters after the all-party meeting on the Cauvery water dispute.
The meeting was convened to discuss the next course of action after the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee directed the state government to release 5,000 cusecs of water to neighbouring Tamil Nadu over the next 15 days.
Elaborating about the shortfall of water in the state, the Chief Minister said, “33.7 TMC of water has been released already. We must have released more than 99 TMC. Since we don’t have water we could release only 33.7 TMC. We need to save standing crops in Karnataka. We need at least 70TMC water. 33 TMC for drinking and three TMC for industries required. But we have only 53 TMC water. That is why we are not in the position to release water to Tamil Nadu as per SC order.”
Siddaramaiah also said that it was decided in the All-Party Meeting to approach the Supreme Court on the Cauvery water sharing row and file a petition before the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee.
“We have taken a decision in the All-Party Meeting that we will make an application before the Cauvery River Regulatory Committee again stating that we have no water and explaining the actual position which is prevailing in Karnataka and also prevailing in Tamil Nadu. We have also decided in the All-Party Meeting to approach the Supreme Court with a petition…,” the Karnataka Chief Minister said.
Siddaramaiah also added that it has been decided in the All-Party Meeting to write a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and meet all Karnataka MPs and Ministers in Delhi.
“We have also decided to write a letter to the Prime Minister of India and also the Water Resources Minister that we are coming in a delegation, please give us a date. We are thinking of going to Delhi to meet all the MPs there and ministers who are from Karnataka…,” he said.
Even on Tuesday, CM Siddaramaiah chaired an emergency cabinet meeting on the Cauvery water sharing issue. Deputy CM Shivakumar is scheduled to meet Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh in the next few days over the Cauvery dispute. (ANI)
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