The Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA), which met on Friday after six months, saw Tamil Nadu reiterating its position against the Mekedatu dam project of Karnataka.
“We had strongly objected to anything to be done with regard to Mekedatu. The matter is sub judice. No clearance should be given [by the Central government],” said Sandeep Saxena, Additional Chief Secretary (ACS - Public Works) of the Tamil Nadu government.
The 12th meeting of the authority, which lasted nearly 90 minutes, deferred the subject.
Held online, the event was presided over by S.K. Haldar, Chairman of the Central Water Commission, with Rakesh Singh, ACS of the Water Resources Department of Karnataka; T.K. Jose, ACS (Water Resources) of Kerala; and A. Vikranth Raja, Secretary (Public Works) of Puducherry, being present. Representatives of the Union Ministries of Jal Shakti, Agriculture and Rural Development also took part.
When the agenda was prepared for the meeting, the proceedings on Mekedatu were pending before the National Green Tribunal (NGT), which had, by then, issued notices to many, including the authority. This was why the subject had got included in the agenda. As a result, the matter came up in the meeting. [On June 17, the NGT closed the proceedings, pointing out that the Mekedatu issue had been raised by Tamil Nadu before the Supreme Court].
As the two riparian States — Karnataka and Tamil Nadu — opposed each other’s lift irrigation schemes, apart from the former objecting to the latter’s Cauvery-Gundar link project, the authority also decided to defer the subjects.
Tamil Nadu had made it clear that all its schemes were “old”.
The authority asked Karnataka to release water during June (9.19 thousand million cubic feet) and July (31.24 tmc ft) as per a schedule that was based on the Supreme Court’s judgment of 2018. Till June 23, Tamil Nadu recorded about 3.6 tmc ft, against its due of 7 tmc ft.
By coincidence, the CWMA’s meeting took place on the day the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT) delivered its interim award exactly 30 years ago.
The interim award also had a larger significance than being a mere response to Tamil Nadu’s prayer for immediate relief then. For the first time in the country, a river water disputes tribunal gave an interim award which was, in turn, facilitated by a verdict of the Supreme Court.
In 19 of the 30 water years, Tamil Nadu has realised more than its share of water as stipulated by the tribunal and later by the Supreme Court. On average, the State receives about 260 tmc ft annually. Its share was determined as 205 tmc ft in the interim award (1991); 192 tmc ft in the final award (2007) and 177.25 tmc ft in the judgment of the Supreme Court (2018). Since 2013, the Billigindulu gauging station of the Central Water Commission replaced the Mettur dam as the reference point for the measurement of Cauvery water realisation by Tamil Nadu.
Of the total quantity realised every year, a little less than 150 tmc ft comes during June-September (southwest monsoon). However, this is skewed by poor receipts in the first two months (June and July) of the water years. In all these 30 years, only on seven occasions in June and eight in July, Tamil Nadu has got more than the stipulated.
There was not much change in the situation in the last three years after the constitution of the authority. [Only July 2018 was an exception to this norm]. Yet, Tamil Nadu did not complain much as the inflows in the subsequent months — August and September — were bountiful. Of the 30 years, the receipts were higher in 18 years in August and 15 years in September, than the prescribed
