Cauvery: 'Karnataka has nothing to hide'

By Our Special Correspondent

BANGALORE, AUG. 27. Karnataka had nothing to hide on the question of release of Cauvery waters to Tamil Nadu, and the level of water in both the Krishnarajasagar Dam in the State and Mettur in Tamil Nadu was public knowledge, the Minister for Water Resources, Mr. H. K. Patil, said today.

Speaking to pressperson, Mr. Patil confirmed that the meeting of the Monitoring Committee on the implementation of the interim report of the Cauvery Waters Dispute Tribunal would be held in Delhi on September 6. It was earlier scheduled for September 5. The Central Water Commission had informed the State Chief Secretary about the meeting. The meeting would go into the inflows into the Mettur Dam.

The Minister refused to speak on the exact quantum of Cauvery waters released to Tamil Nadu this year. Nor was he willing to disclose the level of the reservoirs in the Cauvery Basin in the State. He said Karnataka relied on the gauging of inflows into the Mettur Dam undertaken at Biligondlu within the State by the Central Water Commission and at the dam itself by Tamil Nadu. The latter was according to the older method.

Mr. Patil said a date for the visit of the Tamil Nadu Public Works Minister here for talks on the Cauvery water release issue would be fixed after discussions with the Chief Minister, Mr. S. M. Krishna, who was away in Delhi. He did not reply to a question whether the visit of the Tamil Nadu Minister was necessary in view of the meeting of the monitoring committee. The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Ms. J.Jayalalithaa, had written to Mr. Krishna on August 23 about the visit of that State's Public Works Minister to Bangalore for talks. The Chief Minister, in his reply, cited other preoccupations on August 25 and 26, dates mentioned by Ms. Jayalalithaa for the Minister's visit.

Meanwhile, the State officials dealing with the Cauvery water dispute told The Hindu that they expected the Tribunal to come out with its first report by May 2002. The proceedings were currently at the cross-examination stage. They would be followed by the arguments by counsel for the States concerned. The interim report was given in June 1991.

The Tribunal is now headed by Mr. Justice N.P.Singh, a former judge of the Supreme Court, after Mr. Justice Chittatosh Mookherjee, former Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court, resigned.

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