Karnataka defers decision on release of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu by a day

The Karnataka government today deferred the decision to release Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu till September 29.

Bengaluru: Amidst the raging row over Cauvery water, the Karnataka government on Wednesday deferred the Supreme Court's latest order to release water to Tamil Nadu till tomorrow. 

Addressing a press conference in Bengaluru, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said, "The Karnataka Cabinet has deferred till tomorrow the decision on release of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu as per Supreme Court order. The state government will take any further decision after meeting Union Water Resource Minister Uma Bharti on September 29."

Union Minister Uma Bharti will chair a meeting at her New Delhi residence at 11:30 am tomorrow on the ongoing Cauvery water crisis with Chief Minister of Karnaraka and Public Works Department (PWD) minister  E.K. Palaniswamy of Tamil Nadu on Thursday. (Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa is admitted in a Chennai hospital and is recovering from an illness and thus, cannot attend the session with Bharti tomorrow).

Yesterday, Jayalalithaa dictated a speech to her party officials from her Chennai hospital room that she wants shared at tomorrow's meeting with Uma Bharti in Delhi.

Echoing the Bharatiya Janata Party's view, Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) lawmaker Y.S.V. Datta said his party's leader and former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy had also conveyed to the state government not to release the water till the outcome of Thursday's meeting between the two states in New Delhi with Union Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti, as directed by the top court.

"We have told the Chief Minister Siddaramaiah not to release water to Tamil Nadu today (Wednesday). We will meet again after tomorrow's meeting in Delhi. We also told him that our resolution was more important," Datta said.

As the warring states stuck to their respective positions, the apex court bench had directed the central government to convene an urgent meeting of the heads of the two states to resolve the issue before it resumes hearing in the case on Friday.

On Tuesday, the apex court had directed Karnataka to release 6,000 cusecs daily for three days from Wednesday till Friday despite Karnataka legislature's unanimous resolution adopted on September 23 to use the depleted water in the four dams for drinking purpose only.

The Karnataka government has repeatedly told the Supreme Court that it is on the verge of running out of drinking water for its major cities including the capital of Bengaluru, which is studded with offices of top IT companies and is considered India's Silicon Valley.