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Karnataka suspends release of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu

Fakir Chand in Bangalore

The Karnataka Cabinet on Thursday met and decided to suspend the release of Cauvery waters to Tamil Nadu.

"The suspension of water release to Mettur Dam in Tamil Nadu from the Kabini reservoir is till further orders," irrigation officials told rediff.com

Chief Minister S M Krishna had convened the Cabinet after a farmer, in protest against the release of water, committed suicide by jumping into the Kabini reservoir in Mysore on Wednesday.

State Information Minister Kagodu Thimappa said after the meeting that the government has decided to pay a compensation of Rs 100,000 to the next of the kin of Guruswamy, the Beechanhalli Gram Panchayat member who killed himself. A judicial probe has also been ordered into the suicide.

"The Cabinet has decided to convene a one-day joint session of the state legislature on September 24 to deliberate on the Supreme Court's ruling on the Cauvery tangle expected on September 23," Thimappa stated.

The government has also convened an all-party meeting on September 21 in New Delhi to evolve a consensus over the stand that the state will take in court, he said.

On September 3, the Supreme Court, in an interim order, had asked the Karnataka government to release 1.25 tmcft of water everyday to Tamil Nadu till the Cauvery River Authority met under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and took a decision on the issue.

As per the SC directive, the CRA met on September 8 and revised the quantity of water to be released to 0.8 tmcft.

Since then, the issue has taken a turn for the worse, with farmers in Karnataka resorting to agitation and violence.

Besides courting arrest in hundreds and laying siege to the Kabini and Krishna Raja Sagar reservoirs near Mysore, the farmers closed the sluice gates of both the dams to prevent the irrigation department from letting the waters pass into the Mettur reservoir.

Meanwhile, protesting against the CRA decision and the 'failure' of the Karnataka government in releasing the stipulated quantity of water, the Tamil Nadu government approached the Supreme Court on September 11 for a review of the CRA ruling.

On September 13, a three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice B N Kirpal ordered the Centre to file details of the water released by Karnataka from September 4-8 as per its earlier interim order, and from September 9 onwards as per the CRA order. The next hearing was posted for September 23.

Cauvery Water Dispute: The Complete Coverage

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