A special assembly session of the Karnataka legislature on Monday adopted a “modified” resolution to release Cauvery water for drinking water purposes and to save the withering crops.
The CM, however, did not mention the release of water to Tamil Nadu, nor spoke about the quantum of water that is likely to be released, say reports.
Saying that it is the responsibility of the government to save the standing crops, Siddaramaiah said that water will be released to farmers in the Cauvery basin.
The Supreme Court on Monday asked Karnataka to apprise it by Tuesday afternoon as to how much of Cauvery water had been released to its neighbouring state of Tamil Nadu.
Giving a stern warning to Karnataka, the apex court had on Friday asked the state to release 6000 cusecs of water from October 1-6. According to reports, the modified resolution has been passed in a bid to prevent the government from the wrath of the apex court over defying its previous orders to release water to Tamil Nadu.
The Chief Minister said that there had been a rise in the level of water in reservoirs from 27.60 tmcft to 34.13 tmcft in the last 10 days.
“We had taken a decision against releasing Cauvery water as availability in the four reservoirs was just enough to meet the drinking water requirements of Bengaluru, Mysuru, Mandya and 600 villages. But in the past 10 days, there has been inflow of around 6.5 tmcft of water into the reservoirs because of rain in the catchment area. Now that we are in a position to meet the drinking water requirements (about 23.3 tmcft) till June 2017, we are releasing the excess water. This way, we are also acknowledging the apex court's directive to release water,” The Times of India quoted Chief Minister Siddaramaiah as saying.
Deccan Herald reports that the sluice gates of the reservoirs were opened on Monday, allowing the water to flow downstream, some of which will also flow into Tamil Nadu.