Pressing her demand for convening the Cauvery River Authority meeting, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Thursday asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to direct Karnataka to release water to the state to raise long term crop in the Cauvery delta areas.
Referring to her earlier letter dated May 18, she told the Prime Minister in a fresh communication on Thursday that her previous request for urgent need for convening a meeting of the CRA to decide certain specific issues was “yet to be acceded to.”
She also referred to the Interlocutory Application filed by the state government before Supreme Court in July seeking a direction to the Union of India to convene a meeting of the CRA with the apex court seeking Central government’s views in this matter. Jayalalithaa said without prejudice to the pending proceedings in the apex court, the Prime Minister as the Chairperson may convene a meeting of the CRA and the Distress Sharing Formula can be adopted as a situation of distress has arisen now.
She also complained that while Karnataka had not released any water from its reservoirs during the irrigation year of 2012-2013, it had opened the reservoir for its own irrigation. The Mettur Dam in Tamil Nadu could not be opened till date due to the reluctance of the government of Karnataka even to share minimum flows, she said.
The farmers in the Cauvery Delta, having lost the Kuruvai crop, are hoping at least to raise one single Samba crop for their livelihood, she said asserting it was ‘imperative’ that Karnataka was advised to release water to make good the shortfall quantity as per the Distress Sharing Formula and also to share the flows in this distress situation.
