Ensure inflow, Karnataka told

By J. Venkatesan

NEW DELHI, OCT. 10. Within hours of the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Mr. O. Paneerselvam, expressing ``disappointment'' over the outcome of the talks, the Cauvery River Authority (CRA) headed by the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, today directed the Karnataka Government to ``ensure inflows at the Mettur reservoir as stipulated by the Tribunal, especially in view of the situation being faced in the Cauvery basin''.

Soon after the meeting, both Mr. Paneerselvam and the State Law Minister, Mr. C. Ponnaiyan, described the Authority as ``toothless and powerless'' and accused Mr. Vajpayee of not giving any direction to Karnataka to save the withering `kuruvai' crops in Tamil Nadu. They said that even after the Water Resources Secretary pointed out that Karnataka could spare at least 10 tmcft (thousand million cubic feet) of water to Tamil Nadu, the Prime Minister did not respond positively as Karnataka strongly opposed Tamil Nadu's demand.

The Karnataka Chief Minister, Mr. S.M. Krishna, told reporters that the Authority had not given any direction to the State, though he described the talks as ``useful''.

Apparently, the Authority had taken the decision to give a direction to Karnataka taking into consideration Tamil Nadu's demands, which complained that Karnataka had been flouting the orders of the Tribunal continuously.

In a press release, the Centre said ``the Authority also decided that the storage position in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu will now be reviewed by the Cauvery Monitoring Committee on a monthly basis, and if the situation warrants, will recommend for convening an emergency meeting''.

The Authority observed that the current year was one of the most difficult years for the Cauvery basin as was evident from the fact that inflows into the Mettur reservoir were only 55 per cent of the normal inflows and the total storage in four Karnataka reservoirs was also only 77 per cent of the design storage.

For a distress situation like in the current year in the Cauvery basin, the Tribunal, in its clarificatory order of April 1992, had directed for pro-rata sharing of the distress, the Authority decided to work out an acceptable and equitable procedure for pro-rata sharing of the distress and, accordingly, requested the basin States to put forward their specific suggestions for consideration.

Earlier, Mr. Paneerselvam, who was upset over the failure of the talks, had told reporters that the no decision could be arrived at as the Karnataka Chief Minister had taken a rigid stand.

Mr. Paneerselvam said the decision of the Authority was to leave the farmers of Tamil Nadu to the fate of rain God. He said ``the Prime Minister has let us down. Neither Karnataka has listened to Tamil Nadu's plea nor the Authority is helpful in solving the problem.''

However, Mr. Krishna disputed Tamil Nadu's contention and said Karnataka had released 27 tmcft of water to Tamil Nadu between September 11 and October 7, which was almost equivalent to Tamil Nadu's demand of one tmcft of water per day.

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