Cauvery Authority asks Karnataka to release 40.43 TMC water to Tamil Nadu

New Delhi, June 25: The Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) on Tuesday asked Karnataka to release nearly 40.43 thousand million cubic (TMC) feet water to Tamil Nadu for the months of June and July.

The decision was taken by the CWMA in a meeting which was attended by representatives of the Centre and the riparian States of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka and Puducherry.

Several parts of Tamil Nadu are grappling with acute water shortage. The Centre had, last month, issued a drought advisory to the State in the backdrop of depleting water levels in its reservoirs.

Meanwhile, farmers in Mandya have been demanding diversion of Cauvery and Hemavati waters to their canals in order to save their produce.

"Now the Central government has already constituted Cauvery Water Management Authority which had asked Karnataka government to release 9 TMC of water to Tamil Nadu," Kumaraswamy told ANI.

"There is a shortage of water in Karnataka. The central government has to take the decision. They have to direct authority. It is not in my hands," he said.

Tamil Nadu, which too has been grappling with the scarcity of water demanded that 9.19 TMC feet of water should be released immediately in accordance with the recent decision of the CWMA.

The distribution of Cauvery water has been a long-standing dispute between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.