H.D. Kumaraswamy urges members of CWRC and CWMA to visit Karnataka, T.N. and understand ground situation

Former Karnataka Chief Minister and Union Minister for Heavy Industries and Steel H.D. Kumaraswamy has urged the members of the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee (CWRC) and the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) to visit the Cauvery basin in both Karnataka and Tamil Nadu and assess the ground situation before directing Karnataka to release water.

Addressing a press conference in Hassan on Friday (July 31), Mr. Kumaraswamy took strong exception to what he described as decisions being made “from air-conditioned rooms in Delhi”. “The members of the committee and the authority should have visited the fields and assessed the prevailing situation. The Karnataka government should have insisted that they conduct a field visit before arriving at any conclusion,” he said.

He argued that the committee should first ascertain whether Tamil Nadu was seeking water for drinking purposes or irrigation. “At present, only about 55 tmcft of water is available in the reservoirs of the Cauvery basin. Of this, nearly 10 tmcft is dead storage and another 10 tmcft has to be reserved for environmental requirements. Around 30 tmcft is needed to meet Bengaluru’s drinking water requirement alone. What about the drinking water needs of the rest of the places in the basin?” he asked.

He said that the CWMA had assumed that nearly 12 tmcft of water would flow into the Cauvery basin reservoirs in the coming days. “On what basis has such an assumption been made? Even if it materialises, will that be sufficient to fulfil drinking water needs of all in the basin?” he asked.

Protests

On the protests against the CWMA’s directions, Mr. Kumaraswamy said the BJP, JD(S)’s coalition partner, had already launched an agitation in Mandya, with support from farmers’ organisations and JD(S) workers. “We cannot remain silent and accept the CWMA’s directions. Protests are inevitable,” he said.

Referring to the all-party meeting convened by the Chief Minister, Mr. Kumaraswamy said governments had traditionally convened such meetings whenever the State faced a Cauvery water crisis. He maintained that Karnataka should refuse to release water if Tamil Nadu was seeking it for irrigation purposes. “Meeting drinking water requirements should be our top priority,” he said.

Mr. Kumaraswamy also asserted that the Cauvery issue should not be politicised. He pointed out that Karnataka had released water to Tamil Nadu whenever there was adequate storage and claimed that more than 900 tmcft of water had flowed to the neighbouring State over the last four to five years.

Drought situation

Turning to the drought situation, Mr. Kumaraswamy alleged that the State government was indifferent to the hardships faced by farmers. “The Chief Minister spends four days in the national capital awaiting the party leadership’s approval for Cabinet expansion. Meanwhile, there are reports of farmers dying by suicide and families migrating in search of livelihood after losing hope of raising crops due to the drought,” he said.

JD(S) Legislature Party leader Suresh Babu, S.L. Bhoje Gowda, MLC, C.N. Balakrishna, Shravanabelgola MLA, and Swaroop Prakash, Hassan MLA, were present at the press conference.