New Delhi, Oct 12 (DHNS): Taking into account of distress situation in Cauvery basin areas in both Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, the Cauvery Monitoring Committee (CMC) on Thursday “awarded” 8.85 tmc ft of water from October 16 to October 31 to Tamil Nadu.

The CMC, headed by Union Resources Secretary D V Singh, at a meeting attended by Chief Secretaries of Cauvery riparian States, decided that Tamil Nadu should receive 8.85 tmc (thousand million cubic) feet of water as per the monitoring gauge at Biligundlu.

When Karnataka categorically said the State is not in a position to release any water from its reservoirs due to shortage, Singh reportedly clarified that this does not mean that Karnataka should release this quantity from its reservoirs.

“This water could come to the lower riparian State either through releases from reservoirs of Karnataka or from the intermediate catchment area below the reservoirs and above Biligundlu, a Central Water Commission monitoring point", he reportedly said.

The States can question the “ award” either before the Cauvery River Authority or the Supreme Court.

The decision is on the basis of the 1992 interim award of the Cauvery River Disputes Tribunal which had asked Karnataka to release 205 tmc to Tamil Nadu annually on a monthly basis.

This decision was taken after reviewing the report submitted by the Central team which visited both the states to study the crop and reservoirs water level.As Tamil Nadu is expected to get rain from north east monsoon, which is likely to start from last week October, the “award” is understood to be purely a stop-gap arrangement.

CMC meet

The monitoring committee will again meet on October 29 to decide on the quantum of water Tamil Nadu should receive from the upper riparian State from November 1st to November 15, sources in the Ministry said.

The meeting was attended by Karnataka Chief Secretary S V Ranganath and his counterparts Devendranath Sarangi of Tamil Nadu, Satyavati of Puducheri and Lathika, Kerala Chief Engineer of Water Resources Department.

Later, speaking to Deccan Herald, Singh said none of the States raised objections to the “award”.

Tamil Nadu, it is learnt, insisted in the meeting that it should get 41.87 tmc feet of water from Karnataka from October 15 to December 31, as per the tribunal interim award.

Union Water Ministry officials said that as per the Central Water Commission’s distress-sharing formula during same period, Tamil Nadu is entitled to 24.44 tmc feet of water when monsoon fails in Karnataka.

There is a lot of backlog of water from Karnataka as it failed to released its quota to Tamil Nadu, Singh reportedly observed and  asked Tamil Nadu to approach the court to resolve this issue.

Singh, who earlier headed the Central team to assess the situation of water level in reservoirs and crop situation of both Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, said the CMC award had taken into account of distress situation in both the states.

Panel report

As per the central panel assessment report, which was circulated among members States in the meeting, there was 59 per cent of deficit of inflow and storage of water level in reservoirs in Cauvery basin areas in both the States.

That included 41 per cent in Karnataka’s reservoirs and 18 per cent Tamil Nadu.
While Tamil Nadu needed water to save its newly-sown crops, Karnataka required water to save its standing crops.

Admitting the distress situation is more in Karnataka, the expert committee also said that at present, Cauvery basin reservoirs in Karnataka has only 52 tmc feet of water and another 52 tmc feet of inflow is expected in the coming days.