The Karnataka government on Tuesday will challenge the Cauvery Supervisory Committee's order on releasing water from the river to Tamil Nadu in the Supreme Court. The panel had directed Karnataka to release 3,000 cusecs of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu from September 21 to September 30. However, neither state had agreed to the proposal.
Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara said the decision was "disappointing" and a "another blow to the state". "We are repeatedly facing injustice...if the judgments that are coming out are causing injustice to us repeatedly, our state government will have to make some decision," he added, according to PTI. The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear the matter on Tuesday.
The committee met in New Delhi on Monday in an effort to find a solution to the deadlock between the states as they continue to disagree on sharing water from the river that passes through them. Reports of protests cropped up from a number of places, including the Cauvery hotbed of Mandya. The commissioner of Bengaluru Police had ordered the closure of liquor shops in the state capital on September 20 and 21 as a "preventive measure".
The Cauvery panel is headed by Union Water Resources Minister Shashi Shekhar and comprises the chief secretaries of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Puducherry, along with the chairperson of the Central Water Commission, among others. On September 5, the Supreme Court had asked Tamil Nadu to approach the committee to find a solution to the dispute. The committee had met on September 12 but could not reach a decision then.
Initially, the apex court had asked Karnataka to release 15,000 cusecs of water from the river to Tamil Nadu, but it later modified its order and reduced the quantity to 12,000 cusecs. The court verdict had led to widespread protests carried out by farmers in Karnataka, who argued that the state needed the water more that its neighbour. Tamil Nadu had also held a bandh on September 16, with farmers' and traders' bodies saying Tamilians had been targeted by Kannadiga protestors.
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