Karnataka Govt To Ask For New Distress Formula In Sharing Cauvery Water: D K Shivakumar

Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India]: Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar said on Friday that the state will ask the Cauvery Management Authority (CWMA) to devise a new formula for sharing river water with Tamil Nadu in a rainfall-deficient year.

“After today’s Cauvery Management Authority meeting, a decision will be made as to what the outline of the formula in the distress year to be.” Shivakumar, who is also holding the irrigation portfolio, told reporters in Sadashivnagar.

“We should be clear about the distress formula before demanding it. For that, we will first discuss about the formula (ourselves). A meeting has been called for this evening (Friday),” he added.

He said that the government will hold a discussion in the Chief Minister’s office with senior lawyers, advocate general and senior irrigation experts who are handling the Cauvery case in the Supreme Court for the state.

He also said that he has instructed the officials that they should attend today’s CWMA meeting in person instead of online.

He also claimed that the state government has managed the Karnataka Bandh in such a way that while protests are allowed at the same time ensuring that daily lives are not disrupted.

Farmer unions and pro-Kannada organisations have called for a Karnataka Bandh today after the Cauvery Regulatory Committee (CWRC) ordered to release of 3,000 cusecs of water at Biligundlu to Tamil Nadu starting from September 28 till October 15, 2023. In the earlier spell, it was 5,000 cusecs.

Though Karnataka approached the Supreme Court appealing against the direction of CWRC saying that it cannot release the water to Tamil Nadu because of poor rainfall this year, the court refused to intervene in the direction. Many protestors were seen raising slogans that the Cauvery River belongs to them.

The police said that more than 50 people from the organisations have been taken into custody to maintain law and order amid the Bandh call.