All about Cauvery Water Dispute between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka

By siliconindia | Monday, 12 September 2016, 05:00 Hrs

BENGALURU: The two south Indian neighboring states are tussling over the water issue of Cauvery River. The protests broke out in Karnataka after Supreme Court ordered the state government to release 15000 cusecs of water in the next 10 days. This decision was taken by the court to save samba crops in Tamil Nadu spread over 40k acres. After the SC court order, various farmers and samitis in Karnataka call for the state wide bandh.

The Cauvery water dispute started way back in 1924 after an agreement between Mysore and Tamil Nadu (than Madras Presidency) to build a dam in Kannambadi Village , Mandya District, Karnataka with a capacity of 44.8tmc ft. That agreement was valid for only 50 years, but after Independence both states declined to follow it and filed a case in the Supreme Court.

The Cauvery fact-finding committee was built in the 1970s to measure requirement of water in both the states. The Committee found that Tamil Nadu has more irrigation area then Karnataka therefore water was distributed on those grounds. Although both states need Cauvery water for drinking and irrigation purposes but government allotted 419tmc ft of water to Tamil Nadu and 270tmc ft to Karnataka.

The Karnataka state declined this proposal and filed a case in Supreme Court for the increase in demand for more water. The current agitation is because of less rainfall this year, Tamil Nadu government filed an application in Supreme Court to release 50.52tmc ft of water to save 4,000 acres of samba crops. Karnataka explained that there is only 80tmc ft of water in the reservoir and state will utilize it for drinking purposes.

The SC reviewed the application of Tamil Nadu and found that the state suffered water deficit in last couple of months that was not sufficient for the crop irrigation. Therefore, on 5th September court gave an order of water release but farmers of Karnataka started protesting against SC order. Karnataka wants to increase its water share to three times, which means Tamil Nadu portion will be reduced. Therefore, the Pro-Kannada outfits call for a bandh with the support of farmers and other local bodies.