“Whole Problem Started After Congress…,” Annamalai On Cauvery Water Dispute

Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India]: Tamil Nadu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president K Annamalai on Tuesday lashed out at Karnataka Government over Cauvery water dispute and said the whole problem started after Congress came to power in Karnataka as they have created the problem for short-term political gains.

The state of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu are at loggerheads over the construction of a reservoir in Mekedatu across the Cauvery river.

“The whole problem started after Congress came to power in Karnataka…They created the problem for short-term political gains. Karnataka Deputy CM DK Shivakumar said he will not even give one drop of water to Tamil Nadu. So he aggravated it further…” Annamalai said.

Meanwhile, the state government has called for an all-party meeting on water disputes related to Cauvery (Kaveri) on August 23.

They have also called some senior Parliament members to be part of the meeting to reach a solution to this long pending issue involving Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

Earlier, the Supreme Court has agreed to constitute itself a bench to hear the Cauvery River water-sharing dispute where Tamil Nadu has sought direction to Karnataka to release 24,000 cusecs of water daily for standing crops.

The matter has been a controversial issue between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu for decades and they have been locked in a battle over the sharing of water from the Cauvery River, which is a major source of irrigation and drinking water for millions of people in the region.

The Centre formed the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT) on June 2, 1990, to adjudicate disputes between Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, and Puducherry with respect to the water-sharing capacities.

The Cauvery is an interstate basin that originates in Karnataka and passes through Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry before draining into the Bay of Bengal.

The total watershed of the Cauvery basin is 81,155 sq km, of which the river’s catchment area is about 34,273 sq km in Karnataka, 2,866 sq km in Kerala and the remaining 44,016 sq km in Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry.