Citing that Bengaluru faces an acute shortage of drinking water, a citizens’ group moved the Supreme Court on Tuesday seeking intervention into the Cauvery dispute.
According to reports, Bangalore Political Action Committee (BPAC) of which Kiran Mazumdar Shaw is the president moved the apex court seeking the protection of drinking water rights of the residents of Bengaluru and its surrounding districts.
However, senior advocate Shekhar Naphade, appearing for Tamil Nadu opposed the petition saying that such kind of intervention cannot be entertained.
The Supreme Court bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra and UU Lalith said that a decision on whether the citizens’ group can intervene in an inter-state dispute will be taken in the next hearing of the case.
The court has scheduled the next hearing for September 27, after ordering the state of Karnataka to release 6000 cusecs of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu till September 27.
Pointing out the failure of south-west monsoon in 2016-2017, the petition said that the right to life of the residents of Bengaluru must be protected.
“There is an acute drinking water problem in the city of Bengaluru and certain other districts of South Karnataka. The annual requirement of Bengaluru city alone is more than 19 TMC of water to be supplied to the citizens by the authorities of the State of Karnataka. The annual drinking water requirements of the Cauvery basin districts including the Bengaluru is roughly about 26 TMC (approximately),” the petition said.
Calling the situation as "alarming", the petition added that if more water was to be released to Tamil Nadu, there won’t be enough water to supply to Bengaluru and other towns.