Karnataka seeks more time to release Cauvery water

Bengaluru, Sep 26: An aggrieved Karnataka on Monday sought time till January from the Supreme Court to release more Cauvery river water to Tamil Nadu as it needs the depleting quantity for drinking purpose.

"Our lawyers have filed an interim petition today (Monday) in the Supreme Court, seeking modification of its September 20 order to release 6,000 cusecs daily from September 21-27, as the state needs the remaining water for drinking," a senior official told IANS here.

The state also substantiated its plea with the resolution of the state legislature passed unanimously on September 23, which resolved to use the water in the four reservoirs across the river basin for supplying drinking water to the region.

"The state has prayed for granting time till January 2017 to follow its latest order as the legislature had resolved not to use the water for any purpose other than to meet the drinking needs of the people in cities, towns and villages in the region," the official said.

A division bench of the apex court will resume hearing in the case on Tuesday, as Tamil Nadu has also filed a counter affidavit, complaining against Karnataka for not obeying its order to release water for irrigating samba inter-crop.

"The state has no intention to disobey the court order but only expressed its inability and helplessness to execute it after releasing 15,000 cusecs daily from September 7-12 and 12,000 cusecs daily from September 13-20 as directed earlier," the official said.

IANS