Should have objected before apex court: HDK

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: J D(S) legislature party leader HD Kumaraswamy on Wednesday reiterated his stand that the State government ought not to have released additional Cauvery water after the Supreme Court (SC) order, which was given in response to a petition by Tamil Nadu.

He insisted that Karnataka should have raised an objection before the Apex Court instead of conceding.

He made the comments after the all-party meeting on the issues pertaining to river water sharing in the cases of Cauvery, Krishna, Mahadayi etc.

“Instead of releasing water to Tamil Nadu over their petition, the State government should have immediately filed a counter-petition of their own before the Supreme Court. The State government was found lacking in this regard,” Kumaraswamy said.

On August 11, Tamil Nadu Water Resources Minister Duraimurugan expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that the Karnataka State government had made it clear that it could only release 8,000 cusecs of water by August 22.

Duraimurugan had pointed out that in the Cauvery Water Regulatory Committee (CWRC) meeting it was decided that 15,000 cusecs per day would be released by Karnataka for 15 days.

They then approached the Supreme Court (SC), which then ordered Karnataka to release water and the state complied.

Kumaraswamy also took offence to the statement of Deputy Chief Minister and Water Resources Minister DK Shivakumar asking Karnataka’s farmers to approach the Apex Court if they were displeased with the verdict to release the water.