Tamil Nadu has pressed the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) to direct Karnataka to release the pending share of Cauvery water for June and July at Biligundlu on the Tamil Nadu–Karnataka border, without any backlog.
The demand was raised at the 52nd meeting of the CWMA held in Delhi under chairperson S.K. Haldar. Tamil Nadu Water Resources Department Principal Secretary Satyabrata Sahu and Cauvery Technical Committee chairperson Subramanian were among those who attended, while representatives of Karnataka, Kerala and Puducherry joined via video conference.
During the meeting, the authority reviewed storage levels in reservoirs across the Cauvery basin, inflows into the river and agricultural activities in the basin states. Tamil Nadu argued that Karnataka should immediately release the water due from its reservoirs and said repeated claims of low storage could not be accepted as a reason for non-release.
Tamil Nadu sought release of 9.19 TMC for June and 31.24 TMC for July at Biligundlu. Karnataka, citing inadequate rainfall and low inflows into its reservoirs, maintained that it could not release additional water to Tamil Nadu.
The CWMA took note of submissions from both sides and is expected to finalise and announce the June allocation to Tamil Nadu soon. The Mekedatu dam issue was not discussed in the meeting.
