Amid the furore over the issue of sharing Cauvery water with Tamil Nadu, Janata Dal (Secular) leader and former Karnataka CM HD Kumaraswamy levelled allegations on the Tamil Nadu government on Friday and said that it is demanding water for cultivating an extended area of land. Reacting to the issue, the former Karnataka CM criticised the state government and said that they had taken it very lightly. He said that the Tamil Nadu government is extending their cultivation area every year, as reported by news agency ANI.
Kumaraswamy said, "The government has taken this issue very lightly. I am criticising this government's attitude," he said, as quoted by ANI. He also questioned the Tamil Nadu government for allegedly extending their cultivation land every year. "The tribunal has given nearly 1 lakh hectares of cultivation water to Tamil Nadu, but their demand is to fulfill the extension of 4 lac hectares of land; for that, they are demanding the water, and for that, we have to protest," Kumaraswamy told ANI.
"With the shortage of water for our own farming community, why is it necessary for us to oblige the direction of the Cauvery Water Management Board? Why is the Tamil Nadu government expanding the area of cultivation every year? Why is it necessary for us (Karnataka) to release the water?" he also said, as quoted by ANI.
The former Karnataka CM further stated that the Siddaramaiah-led state government is releasing the water without any Supreme Court order. He slammed the government and asked what the legal team was doing when the Tamil Nadu government was filing papers in the Supreme Court demanding water from the state government.
"When this Tamil Nadu government went before the Supreme Court, filing papers to give directions to the Karnataka government to release the water, why is our government doing that? What is our legal team doing? Keeping quiet, silently, without protesting that they are releasing the water without going to the Supreme Court easily, they are releasing the water without any SC order. In the future, what will happen? We are facing a severe shortage of water," Kumaraswamy told ANI.
Earlier in the day, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar defended the decision to release the water to Tamil Nadu, calling it a "balancing act" even as he said the state has written to the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) requesting it to review the order. Highlighting reduced rains and scarcity of water in the Cauvery basin, he said the CWMA has directed the state to release 10,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu on a daily basis for the next 15 days.
"There are court orders, there are orders regarding how the distress formula works. Protecting our farmers' interests is a big responsibility for me. Legislators from Mandya may protest against the release of water (to TN)...also, we can't give everything to Tamil Nadu, the government will have to do a balancing act," Shivakumar, who is also Water Resources Minister said, as quoted by news agency PTI.
Speaking to reporters here, he said, "We have written to the authority yesterday requesting it to review its decision to release 10,000 cusecs of water per day for 15 days to Tamil Nadu, because there is less rains, there is scarcity of water even for drinking, leave aside agriculture," as quoted by PTI. "Tamil Nadu has utilised water for crops, the water we release from here is taking five to six days to reach there, but still they have used," he said.
Tamil Nadu on Monday approached the Supreme Court with a plea to direct Karnataka to release 24,000 cusecs of Cauvery water daily for standing crops.
Following this, Shivakumar had on Tuesday had said Karnataka would release 10 tmc ft of Cauvery river water to Tamil Nadu, while maintaining that the state doesn't have sufficient water in dams to meet its requirements like drinking water and agriculture, due to deficit monsoon.
Taking strong exception to the Karnataka government's decision to release Cauvery river water to Tamil Nadu, the opposition BJP and JD(S) on Thursday had accused the Congress dispensation of 'betraying' the people of the state and its farmers for the sake of politics and to save its INDIA bloc ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
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