DK Shivakumar, the deputy chief minister of Karnataka, announced on Sunday that the state government has scheduled an all-party meeting for August 23 to discuss water disputes involving the Cauvery (Kaveri). Shivakumar claimed that in order to resolve this long-standing dispute involving Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, they have also invited a few senior members of Parliament to the meeting.
“Karnataka government is calling an all-party meeting on water disputes related to Cauvery…it is on Wednesday (23rd August). I have called some senior Parliament members to be part of the meeting…to seek the solution we have called this meeting,” said Karnataka Dy CM DK Shivakumar.
Shivakumar had on Thursday said that they will request the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) to reconsider its decision on sharing water with Tamil Nadu.
CWMA has instructed the Karnataka government to release 10,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu over the next 15 days at a time when the state was grappling with water shortage.
Speaking to ANI, Deputy CM Shivakumar said, “We received an instruction that we have to release 10,000 cusecs of water (from Cauvery) for 15 days. We are aware that the state is currently grappling with a water crisis. We are facing severe drought in some areas.”
“Still, in compliance with the Supreme Court directive, we have released the water (from the Cauvery) over the last four to five days. However, we urge the authority to reconsider the decision (to release water to Tamil Nadu) as it might have a direct impact on the availability of potable water here in Karnataka,” the Deputy CM added.
In the meantime, former chief minister Basavaraj Bommai commented on the situation on Thursday, claiming that the Congress government had betrayed the state’s farmers by failing to bring their plight before the Cauvery Water Management Authority.