Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday, September 13, said the state government will submit an application to the Cauvery River Regulatory Committee, explaining the water scarcity in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Siddaramaiah announced the strategy to tackle the ongoing Cauvery River water dispute after an all-party meeting.
"We have taken a decision in the all-party meeting that we will make an application before the Cauvery River Regulatory Committee again, stating that we have no water and explaining the actual position prevailing in Karnataka and also prevailing in Tamil Nadu," he said.
The chief minister further said the government has also decided to approach the Supreme Court with a petition to address this pressing issue. "We have also decided in the all-party meeting to approach the Supreme Court with a petition. Additionally, we have decided to write a letter to the PM of India and also the water resources minister, expressing our intent to come in a delegation and requesting a suitable date for a meeting," he said
"We are thinking of going to Delhi to meet all the MPs there and ministers who are from Karnataka..." he said.
#WATCH | Bengaluru: Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah says, "We have taken a decision in the All-Party Meeting that we will make an application before the Cauvery River Regulatory Committee again stating that we have no water and explaining the actual position which is prevailing in… pic.twitter.com/zeRQkcuEUC
— ANI (@ANI) September 13, 2023
Earlier in the day, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had announced to hold a "special emergency meeting" following the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee (CWRC) recommending that Karnataka release 5,000 cusecs of water every day for the next 15 days to Tamil Nadu.
This comes after Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister and Irrigation Minister D.K. Shivakumar said there is no water and the state is facing serious drought conditions. Their remarks came as the Cauvery water sharing dispute with neighbouring Tamil Nadu continues.
Shivakumar said only 36 thousand million cubic feet (TMC) water is left while 98 TMC of water should have been left. "Such a situation had not arisen in more than 130 years. This is a very serious drought that we are facing in the last two months. Last time we had four times of what we had. We will discuss everything in the meeting." Shivakumar told news agency ANI.
(Edited by : Shoma Bhattacharjee)