Cauvery Supervisory Committee meets, no decision on water sharing

New Delhi, Sep 12: The Cauvery Supervisory Committee met here on Monday, but no decision on a figure for release of water to Tamil Nadu could be taken, an official statement said.

The committee took a detailed presentation from the Chief Secretaries of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Puducherry and a representative from Kerala, it said.

"The committee tried to reach to a conclusion but Tamil Nadu and Karnataka did not agree to a particular figure of release of water which was based on scientific facts," it said, adding that during the discussions, it was found that certain required information was not available.

"Those information were related to unauthorised withdrawal of water at a time when it is not permitted. The committee did not wish to pass an order which is not backed by supportive data," it said.

The committee however decided that the Central Water Commission will draw up a new protocol for online collection of data related to rainfall and flow of water on real time basis which may be shared simultaneously with all the states concerned.

The next meeting of the supervisory committee will be held on September 19.

All the three states and Union Territory of Puducherry have been requested the submit the relevant information and data by September 15.

This was the sixth meeting of Cauvery Supervisory Committee, under the chairmanship of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Secretary Shashi Shekhar.

Chief Secretaries P Rama Mohana Rao (Tamil Nadu), Arvind Jadhav (Karnataka), Manoj Parida (Puducherry) and senior officials from Kerala, Central Water Commission and Union Water Resources Ministry attended the meeting.

IANS