Tribunal team estimates 251 tmc ft Cauvery water requirement for Karnataka, 395 for Tamil Nadu

In a report that threatens to re-ignite the century-old water dispute between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, the assessors of Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal have pegged the irrigation water requirement of Karnataka at 251 tmc feet for cultivation of 1.88 million acres against Tamil Nadu’s 395 tmc ft for cultivation of 2.47 million acres.

The 250-page report prepared by two assessors of the Tribunal had been kept confidential, pending the final award of the Tribunal. But, the report was made public in New Delhi on Thursday after the Tribunal ordered the same to be circulated among the riparian states and elicit their objections.

Though the Tribunal has sought to clarify that the assessors’ estimate should not be mistaken with the actual allotment of Cauvery water to the riparian states as the same will be announced in the Tribunal’s final award, the circulation of the report prepared by the assessors threatens to trigger inter-state strife.

Karnataka Government has criticized the Tribunal’s decision to make public the report on irrigation water requirement of the riparian states. Karnataka’s Minister for Water Resources K S Eshwarappa said the Tribunal, which has been functioning for 16 years, should give its verdict instead of circulating the report.

In view of the report’s potential to whip up unrest in the Cauvery basin area in Karnataka, the H D Kumaraswamy Government has convened a high-level meeting of the State Government involving the Chief Minister, Deputy Chief Minister, Water Resource Minister, Law Minister and legal experts to finalise the State’s stand.

It may be mentioned here that the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal had been constituted sixteen years ago and the body. Within months after the Tribunal had been constituted, an interim order was delivered in June 1991, directing the upper riparian state Karnataka to release 205 tmc feet of water annually to lower riparian state Tamil Nadu. The interim order had triggered widespread protests and riots by farmers in Karnataka.

Meanwhile, the report prepared by the Tribunal’s assessors J I Gian Chandani and S R Sahasra Budhe put the total water requirement of the all the Cauvery basin states – Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry and Kerala – at 687 tmc ft. Apart from Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, the assessors had pegged Kerala’s requirement of Cauvery waters at 34 tmc feet and Pondicherry’s at 7 tmc feet.

Karnataka, however, had sought from the Tribunal an allocation of 465 tmc ft while Tamil Nadu had asked for 566 tmc ft, which includes Pondicherry’s portion as well.

Though Karnataka has been directed to release 205 tmc ft of water annually to Tamil Nadu in the Tribunal’s interim order, the assessors report said the release of Cauvery water from Karnataka to Tamil Nadu will drop to around 180 tmc feet, factoring in the already available Cauvery waters downstream, which is estimated at about 262 tmc ft.