From Our Special Correspondent

Daijiworld Media Network

Bengaluru, Jan 13: Karnataka has flatly refused Tamil Nadu’s demand for releasing 15tmcft of Cauvery water to make up for the shortfall in the supply in the 2017-18 irrigation year.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said the question of releasing water to Tamil Nadu does not arise now as the State his facing severe water shortage.

The Supreme Court is expected to pronounce its verdict next month on the Cauvery water dispute and the State is expecting a favourable verdict to the State, Siddaramaiah said.

He pointed out that the live storage water levels in four reservoirs - Kabini, Harangi, KRS and Hemavathi - was less than 40 tmcft on January Saturday.

With the water storage in the State in a precarious position and the demand for drinking water in Bengaluru and the basin areas in the State, it was not possible to release water to Tamil Nadu, the Chief Minister said.

The Chief Minister, while speaking to reporters in Delhi, was responding to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami’s letter to him requesting Karnataka to release 15 Tmcft of Cauvery river water to meet the irrigation needs of farmers to save their standing crops and to meet people’s drinking water needs.

Palaniswami said Karnataka could release 7 TMC of water from the Cauvery basin immediately and release the remaining 8 TMC within a fortnight.

Siddaramaiah said the State Government had to first meet its obligations to the people of the State.