Bengaluru: Karnataka will file a petition in the Supreme Court on Monday seeking a modification of the court’s order of September 20. The Supreme Court had asked Karnataka to release 6,000 cusecs of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu on a daily basis from September 21 to 27.
The State government is filing the petition after the mandate from both the Houses of the state legislature to conserve Cauvery water only for the drinking water needs of Bengaluru and other towns in the state. It is gathered that Karnataka will plead for deferring the release of water to Tamil Nadu till the storage level in Karnataka’s reservoirs improves.
A discussion was held between Water Resources Minister M B Patil and Chief Secretary Aravind Jadhav with the state’s legal team, headed by F S Nariman at New Delhi on Sunday. Karnataka is likely to request the court not to fix tight schedules and deadlines for releasing the water. However, the plea will give an assurance on the state government’s commitment to make good the deficit by the end of the season.
The water in the Cauvery reservoirs is just 27.6 tmcft, which could barely meet the drinking water needs of Bengaluru and other towns in Karnataka’s Cauvery basin, whereas Tamil Nadu’s Mettur Dam has 50 tmcft available.
