Cauvery: Karnataka gets 270 TMC, TN gets 419 TMC

New Delhi, Feb 5: The Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT) today gave its final verdict on the distribution of the river water among the southern states.

In its five-volume order containing about 1000 pages, the tribunal awarded 419 TMC water to Tamil Nadu, 270 TMC to Karnataka, 30 TMC to Kerala, 7 TMC to Puducherry and 10 TMC for environmental protection.

The operative portion of the ruling was read out by CWDT Chairman N P Singh to the media.

The Tribunal also asked Karnataka to ensure the release of 192 TMC water at Biligondlu, the last point of Cauvery in the state to Tamil Nadu.

This is to be made operational from the day the government notitifies the gazette.

The states concerned can approach the tribunal for any clarification within 90 days.

The Tribunal which has the same status as Supreme Court was headed by Justice Chittatosh Mukherjee with Justice Aggarwal and N S Rao as members. Mr Vinay Sahasra Buddhe and Gianchandani were named the assessors. Justice Mukherjee resigned as Chairman paving way for Justice N P Singh. Justice Aggarwal died in the middle and Justice Sudhir Narain was appointed in his place.

Mr Rao and the two assessors have been with the Commission right from its constitution constituted in June 1990.

The Interim Order in June, 1991 directed Karnataka to ensure 205 TMC of water at Mettur in a water year while restricting Karnataka to limit its command area to 11.2 lakh acres. Tamil Nadu was asked to ensure six TMC of water to Puducherry, which is the minor party to the dispute apart from Kerala.

Cauvery, which takes birth at Talakaveri in Karnataka, traverses the states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu before reaching Bay of Bengal. The proble is acute among the states because the river potential have been totally exploited by the riparian states leaving little scope for compromise between the contending parties.

The combined demand of the states exceeded over 1000 TMC while the actual water available was less than 750 TMC.

The dispute is one of the oldest disputes between erstwhile Mysore State and Madras Presidency resulting in the British imposing two agreements on the state in 1892 and 1924 prescribing limitations on the upper riparian state using water in the upper reaches of the Cauvery basin.

The assessors in their report to the Commission have recommended 395 TMC of water for Tamil Nadu for irrigating 24.70 lakh acres, while Karnataka has been allowed 250 TMC of water for irrigating 18.85 lakh acres. Kerala has been allowed to use 33 TMC and Puducherry 7 TMC. Since the Tribunal has come out with its final report, the Inter-State Water Disputes Act allows the riparian states three months to file clariciatory applications and it will be enforceable once the Union Government notifies the report in the Gazette.

The Cauvery River Authority, headed by Prime Minister and Chief Ministers of the riparian states as members, is the decision taking body until the CWDT pronounced its final order.

The Authority was assisted by Cauvery Monitoring Committee headed by Secretary Water Resouces Ministry and Chief Secretaries of the riparian states. The CRA has been handling the crisis situations that have arisen between the states due to inadequate rains.

The experience of previous Tribunals in resolving Narmada, Krishna and Ravi Beas disputes has come in handy for the CWDT to find an amicable solution to the dispute.

There have been frequent hic-ups between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu over the sharing of water especially in the years when the states had scanty rains.

On most occasions, the lower riparian states have received more than the prescribed by the interim order. The receipts at Mettur even surpassed 300 TMC in 1991-92, 2000-01 and 2005-06 while it was worst in 2003-04 with only 65 TMC and 94 TMC in 2002-03 and 162 TMC in 2001-02.

Considering the emotional issues in the dispute and past violences, Karnataka has made special police bandobast in Cauvery basin districts of Mysore, Mandya, Chamarajanagar, Hasan, Tumkur and Bangalore.

UNI