All Party Delegation to PM: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah sought cooperation from all parties

Bengaluru: Let an all-party delegation from the government go meet the Prime Minister on Mekedatu, Cauvery, Mahadayi, Krishna issues. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said that he want everyone's cooperation for this.

He was presiding over an all-party meeting held at the Conference Hall on Cauvery, Mekedatu and Mahadayi water disputes on Wednesday.

CM Siddaramaiah said, We are always committed to protect the interest of the state. Due to lack of rain every five to six years, we face difficulty in releasing Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu. The hardship sharing formula is not specified in this regard. Lawyers should argue competently in the Supreme Court about this. The Chief Minister said on this occasion that the government will provide all necessary support for this.

A decision on the hardship sharing formula in the Cauvery Water Management Authority is yet to be taken. Construction of Mekedatu Balancing Reservoir with a storage capacity of 67 TMC water will facilitate them to release water during such a crisis. He opined that Tamil Nadu is unnecessarily opposing this project.

The Cauvery controversy is an old one. The Cauvery Water Management Authority was formed in 2018 after the Supreme Court gave us a verdict. Cauvery Water Control Committee has been established. Several meetings were held. The Cauvery Authority has held 22 meetings and the Control Committee has held 84 meetings. After these committees, the state faced difficult days. Then there are many instances where we have discussed in the control committee, the authority and acted as per its decision.

Officials representing Karnataka in the Cauvery Control Committee and Authority have voiced concerns about the plight. They have explained the reality. This year the rains were less. Rainfall is deficient in June and August. So far 86.38 TMC of water has to be released. But till August 20th the water released is 24 tmc. That means we are opposed; We have made a sincere effort to disclose the facts before the authorities. Crops are not watered due to lack of rain; It is explained that water is needed for drinking purpose, said CM Siddaramaiah.

It was because of our argument that it was reduced from 15,000 cusecs water to 10,000 cusecs water. We applied for re-examination of that too. The Tamil Nadu officials boycotted the meeting while the state officials were arguing in the Cauvery Water Management Authority meeting that 15,000 cusecs of water could not be provided. Later they filed an appeal in the Supreme Court. He said confidently that the case will be heard on August 25th and the lawyers will argue competently in this matter.

He said, From the beginning, all the political parties have spoken with one accord about Karnataka's land, water, border and language. No one has tried to politicize these issues, nor should they. Because we all have to protect the welfare of seven crore people of the state. Whether we belong to the ruling party, it is everyone's responsibility to protect the welfare of the state. The Chief Minister said that he did not do politics that way.

Speaking at the beginning of the meeting, Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar made it clear that there is no compromise in protecting the interest of the state in the matter of irrigation, the government's legal battle will continue and seek the cooperation of the leaders of all parties in this regard.

The water year 2023-24 will be a difficult year due to failure of southwest monsoon in the Cauvery valley region of Karnataka and Kerala. The Cauvery Water Control Committee in its meeting noted the lack of rainfall till June. On August 10, 1,5000 cusecs water was directed to be released. The state strongly opposed this and reduced the water quantity to 10,000 cusecs. Upset with this, Tamil Nadu filed a petition in the Supreme Court to release the water, which will be heard before a three-judge bench on Friday.

Former Chief Ministers BS Yediyurappa, DV Sadananda Gowda, Veerappa Moily, Jagadeesh Shettar, HD Kumaraswamy, Basavaraj Bommai, MPs Sumalatha, Jaggesh, Dr Hanumanthiah, Muniswamy, GM Siddeshwar, GC Chandrasekhar, MLA Darshan Puttaiah and others who spoke in the meeting were among others. They supported the fight. They expressed their support that they will stand with the government to protect the interests of farmers. And it was felt that the hardship sharing formula needs to be further specified.

An application has also been made for the approval of the Forest and Environment Department and the approval of the National Wildlife Board for the Kalasa and Bandura project regarding Mahadayi water allocation. But the Goa government has filed a case in the Supreme Court regarding this and advised them to pay more attention to this.

A team of advocates used past experiences to advise on how to effectively argue in the best interest of the state.

Former Chief Ministers Basavaraj Bommai, BS Yediyurappa, HD Kumaraswamy, Jagadeesh Shettar, DV Sadananda Gowda, Veerappa Moily, Ministers HK Patil, Chaluvarayaswamy, Dr G Parameshwara, KJ George, Krishna Byregowda, Special Representative of Karnataka Government in New Delhi TB Jayachandra were present in the meeting. , MLAs MPs from all parties, Chief Secretary to Government Vandita Sharma, Deputy Chief Secretary Water Resources Department Rakesh Singh, Advocate General Shashikiran Shetty, Senior Advocate Mohan Kataraki and other legal experts, senior officers attended the meeting.