Amid Cauvery protests, Karnataka CM says decision only after legal experts, Opposition advice

Protests have intensified in Karnataka's Cauvery basin against the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee's (CWRC) order directing the state to release water to Tamil Nadu. In response, Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar said on Friday that the state government will decide its next move only after consulting legal experts and Opposition leaders. He made the statement after a review meeting with officials and legal experts, and ahead of an all-party meeting convened in Bengaluru for Sunday.

Mr. Shivakumar said inflows into reservoirs in the Karnataka Cauvery basin had improved over the last two to three days, calling it a "reassuring sign". He cited the storage positions: Harangi reservoir at 95 per cent of full capacity, Kabini at 83 per cent, KRS at 36 per cent, and Hemavati at 67 per cent. "No one can hide these figures," he said, adding that all stakeholders, including Cauvery authorities, Tamil Nadu and the media, have access to the inflow data. The dams are currently receiving about 25,000 cusecs per day, while the state has been asked to release 3,500 cusecs per day, he noted.

The Chief Minister pointed out that until the end of July, Karnataka had released only 0.6 tmcft of water to Tamil Nadu. He described this as the smallest quantum released in the last 100 years. He clarified that the water which did flow was mostly rain runoff from the Bengaluru region, not from release from the state's reservoirs.

Defending the state's legal team and officials, Mr. Shivakumar said they had effectively presented Karnataka's case before the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) and had also sought a fortnight's time to assess the situation before taking a decision on releases. However, the CWMA observed that there were inflows into Karnataka's reservoirs and that the quantum the state had been asked to release was low, he said. Tamil Nadu had sought 9.94 tmcft of water, but the CWRC recommended roughly half that amount, he added.

Noting that similar orders had been issued in earlier distress years, he said Karnataka had been ordered to release water to Tamil Nadu in 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2023 as well. He also stated that whenever the state had good storage, it released more than the stipulated quantum. "Over the last three years, we have had good rainfall. Last year, the rains were good and we released more than 400 tmcft to Tamil Nadu instead of the stipulated 177 tmcft," he said. He added that a large amount of water had already flowed into the sea from Tamil Nadu's reservoirs.

The Cauvery water-sharing dispute between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu is a long-standing issue. The CWRC and the CWMA are statutory bodies constituted under the final award of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal, which was later modified by the Supreme Court in 2018. The current order to release 3,500 cusecs per day is an interim one, subject to further review. The units used in the discussion include cusec (cubic feet per second), a measure of flow, and tmcft (thousand million cubic feet), a measure of volume.

The all-party meeting on Sunday is expected to bring together leaders from various parties to discuss the next course of action. The Chief Minister said the government's decision would be based on the opinions of the leaders and the advice of legal experts. He indicated that the state would continue to press its case before the authorities, while also exploring all available legal avenues.