Chennai: Maintaining that agriculture would be affected in Tamil Nadu due to lack of supply of water from Cauvery river by Karnataka, DMK president M Karunanidhi on Sunday appealed to the Centre to convene a meeting of the Cauvery River Water Authority to discuss the issue at the earliest.
Welcoming Tamil Nadu government's move to file a petition in the Supreme Court to convene the meeting, Karunanidhi said in a statement here that "supply of 36.15 TMC of water, supposed to reach Mettur Dam in Tamil Nadu from Cauvery river till July 20, has not reached."
In view of this only a minimal amount of water could be released from Mettur Dam from June 12 for three districts for irrigation, he said.
"45 per cent of irrigation in Tamil Nadu is being done using Cauvery water", he said.
"Citing lack of monsoon rains, Karnataka is not supplying Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu and this may affect agriculture and economy of the state", he said.
He slammed Karnataka for rejecting Supreme Court orders and interim orders issued from the Cauvery Water Tribunal.
Recalling Chief Minister Jayalalithaa's letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in May demanding that the Centre convene a meeting of the Cauvery River Authority to discuss the issue, Karunanidhi said, "So far the Centre has not taken any steps to conduct the meeting".
Jayalalithaa had wrote a letter to Singh on May 18 charging Karnataka with "unjustly utilising" the inter-state river water for summer irrigation from February to May by depleting storage in its four major reservoirs, affecting inflows into Tamil Nadu.
On Tamil Nadu Government filing a petition in the Supreme Court to convene the meeting, Karunanidhi said, "It was a welcome move".
PTI
First Published: Sunday, July 22, 2012, 14:32