NEW DELHI: In reaction to the Supreme Court's warning on sharing the Cauvery river water, Karnataka said it was not in a position to release water to neighbouring Tamil Nadu. “Even if we want to release we don't have water. We have shortage,” a minister said. The Supreme Court had last week, warned the state to “be ready to release Cauvery water or face the consequences.”
Water Resouces Minister MB Patil said, “There is a total of nine tmc water in all the four reservoirs coming under the Cauvery basin. That 9 TMC water is not enough for our drinking needs and crops. We have shortage.” In a video message, he said, “In this circumstance we cannot obey Supreme Court's order, as we don't have water. We will inform the Supreme Court about availability of water currently and our needs.” The SC, in its order, had also rebuked the Centre for asking for more time to act on issue, on grounds that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and ministers were busy with the May 12 Karnataka polls.
The court had directed the Centre to inform it by next week, what steps were taken to frame the scheme to monitor the release of water to Tamil Nadu. Chief Justice of India, Dipal Misra told the Centre's lawyer KK Venugopal, “You are supposed to frame the scheme”. He said, “We are not bothered about the polls. The scheme should have been framed by now. States have no role in this.” Tamil Nadu has accused the Modi government of “politicising the issue” and worrying more about the elections in Karnataka. It said, “Centre doesn't want to frame the scheme now. This is the end of cooperative federal politics. What do we tell the people of Tamil Nadu?”
