Central team to study water deficit in Cauvery dams

Bengaluru, Oct 6: A team of experts, led by Central Water Commission Chairman G.S. Jha will arrive here on Friday to study the water deficit in the four dams across the Cauvery river in Karnataka, said an official.

"On arrival, the expert team will hold a preparatory meeting here before visiting the reservoirs across the river basin for assessing the ground realities, including the live storage water levels, inflows and outflows," an official in the chief minister's office told IANS.

Besides Jha, the team comprises CWC member S. Masood Hussain, Krishna and Godavari basin organisation Chief Engineer R.K. Gupta and representatives of Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the Union government to send an expert team to the river basin areas in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu and submit a report on the ground realities in both the states to the division bench by October 17.

"The team will take note the availability of water in the reservoirs of Hemavathy in Hassan district, KRS and Kabini in Mysuru district and Harangi in Kodagu district, which are affected by a deficit monsoon rains this year," said the official.

The apex court will resume the next hearing in the inter-state river water disputes case on October 18, after the state agreed to release 2,000 cusecs per day from October 7-18 as directed on Tuesday.

IANS