Bengaluru: Karnataka which is reeling under severe drought has decided not to release any more Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu as directed by the Apex Court on Monday.
The Supreme Court bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra directed that all interim orders of releasing 2,000 cusecs of water everyday by Karnataka will continue to be in force till further orders. The next hearing is now scheduled for July 11.
Karnataka government defends its stance as almost all the reservoirs have less than 20 percent water in them. If the rain deficit increases in the coming months, state government will be forced to use the dead storage from these dams.
“We won’t release water to Tamil Nadu; we are facing shortage of 2-3 TMC for drinking purposes. We would love to give water if our state had any,” said, M.B. Patil, Water Resources Minister.
The Minister added that it won’t be a case of contempt of court as there was no water to release. “It would be contempt if we had water and then said we won’t release,” he added.
160 of 176 taluks in the state are declared drought-hit. The meteorology department recorded a rainfall deficit of 40-70% from August to December in 2016.
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