Karnataka water resources minister DK Shivakumar on Wednesday said protests over bringing water from the Sharawati and Cauvery rivers to Bengaluru have further led to the water crisis in the city, citing that the deputy chief minister's proposal to ban the construction of new apartments in the city was meant to protect the IT city.

Share Market Live

NSE

Deputy chief minister G Parameshwara had said last week that the state government wants to ban the construction of new apartments in Bengaluru for 5 years due to the water crisis. While he said a formal decision will be taken only after consultation with developers and the stakeholders, the statement received massive backlash from all sections.

"Bengaluru has to be protected," Shivakumar told CNBC-TV 18, "Cauvery is not seeing even 10 percent of water inflow. We have not been allowed to do Mekedatu reservoir project. There are protests to bringing water from Sherawati river to Bengaluru."

While Shivamoga citizens have been protesting proposed plans to take water from Sharavathi river to Bengaluru, Tamil Nadu is protesting Karnataka government's plans to build a dam at Mekedatu across the Cauvery river. "We have requested national government for permission to start the (Mekedatu) project," the minister said.

The Congress leader assured that there needn't be any panic on the deputy chief minister's statements, "It is only thinking so far based on a committee report. We will not stop the right of an individual from developing anything. No one should panic. We don't want investments in Bengaluru to be impacted."

Eight of the last 10 years were drought years in Karnataka, with 156 taluks in its 30 districts being declared drought hit in the rabbi season and 100 taluks hit by drought in the Kharif season of 2018-19.

Shivakumar said there is only 689 cusec water inflow to Cauvery compared to 7600 cusecs last year. Storage is also at 80 cusecs compared to 125 last year, he said.

"There have been no sufficient rains in the state except in North Karnataka," the water resources minister said. "Teams advised taking a review of the situation. Cloud seeding being done. Rains are very bleak this time," he added.

Karnataka has also been asked to release 9.19tmcft and 31.24tmcft of water for June and July respectively to Tamil Nadu by the Cauvery Water Management Authority, provided there is an adequate inflow of water. "We will honour their commitment. It is a very sensible decision. Only if we have water can we release,” Shivakumar said.

Karnataka Political Developments

Shivakumar, a senior face in the Congress-JD(S) coalition the state, also commented on the ongoing political tussle in the state, especially after two Congress MLAs submitted their resignations on Monday.

"Only one MLA has submitted resignation, other is flipflopping. It is an issue based resignation," he said, "The state government is strong, we will complete the full term. We hope that BJP is not involved in dirty politics."