Cauvery water: Karnataka moves SC seeking urgent hearing

New Delhi, Sep 11 (PTI) Karnataka has moved the SupremeCourt for urgent hearing on its plea seeking a direction torestrict the quantum of water to be released from RiverCauvery to Tamil Nadu, from 15,000 cusecs to 1,000 cusecs. The application filed late last evening has also soughtmodification of the apex court’s Sep 5 order in which itdirected release of 15,000 cusecs of water for 10 days as animmediate relief to Tamil Nadu farmers. Karnataka’s decision to move the Supreme Court comes evenas the Cauvery Supervisory Committee is meeting here tomorrowto decide on the quantum of the river’s water to be releasedto Tamil Nadu and other states. The application has sought that instead of 10 days, theapex court should restrict the flow of water only for 6 daysas the state itself was facing distress situation in view ofmassive agitation and loss of Rs 500 crore per day. When contacted, advocate V N Raghupathy said, "We aretrying to get the matter listed for an urgent hearing." The early listing of the matter is important as thecourts are closed for the next 2 days on account of holiday. In the application, Karnataka has stated that there hasbeen huge public pressure and the state police, with greatdifficulty, have been able to prevent attempts to damagepublic property. "Even the minimum arrangement mentioned by your lordshipshas caused distress and havoc in the entire southern part ofKarnataka, paralysing civil life. The agitation of farmershas been that their dry crop is equalled with that of thefarmers in Tamil Nadu. Tamil Nadu’s need for the rice cropconsumes more than twice the water which is needed for lightcrops in Karnataka" the application said. The application has stated that people, particularlyfarmers in the districts of Mysuru, Hassan, Mandya andBengaluru, have been squatting on the roads and streets,affecting the IT industry in Bengaluru which earns revenue asincome tax, service tax, and foreign exchange of USD 60billion to the country. The application has also referred to inputs from securityagencies that said if the flow of water is allowed to continuefurther, the situation may go out of hand. The application is likely to be placed before ChiefJustice T S Thakur, who is likely to take a call on it and ifit all an urgent hearing is required, it will be assignedbefore a bench, which on September 5 had passed some interimdirections. In an interim order on September 5, the court directedKarnataka to release 15,000 cusecs of Cauvery water per day toTamil Nadu for the next 10 days to ameliorate plight of thefarmers there. The apex court also directed Tamil Nadu to approach theSupervisory Committee, set up to implement award of CauveryWater Disputes Tribunal (CWDT), within three days for therelease of Cauvery water as per the final order of theTribunal. PTI RKS BSADV