The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked Karnataka to release 6,000 cusecs of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu every day from September 21 till September 27. The apex court has also asked the Centre to constitute Cauvery Management Board within four weeks.
The state government, while challenging an order passed by the Cauvery Supervisory Committee on Monday, told the bench, “We will have to sacrifice our drinking water for irrigation purposes in Tamil Nadu”.
Supreme Court further allowed Tamil Nadu and Karnataka to file objections to Cauvery supervisory committee report in 3 days.
Karnataka has already released 1,68,000 cusecs of water, amid which, huge protests have taken place across the state.
Meanwhile, Karnataka Home Minister has directed police officials to keep fire engines, tear gas shells ready in Cauvery belt including Bengaluru. The Bengaluru police had made elaborate security arrangements across the city. To avoid a repeat of September 12 when violence rocked the city, the police had beefed up security, especially in areas that witnessed arson and police firing last week. Meanwhile, Section 144 has been imposed in Mandya’s Sanjay circle.
City police commissioner NS Megharikh said, “A total of 40 platoons of the Karnataka State Reserve Police, 30 City Armed Reserve platoons, six Rapid Action Force squads, three companies of the Seema Suraksha Dal, three Border Security Force platoons and one company each of Central Industrial Security Force and Indo-Tibetan Border Police will guard the city.”
The state government has also deployed 15,000 civil police including senior police officers and 2,000 Home Guards, besides two Special Weapons and Tactics vehicles, 250 Hoysalas and 400 Cheetah bikes to patrol the city.
The Cauvery panel is headed by Union Water Resources Minister Shashi Shekhar and comprises the chief secretaries of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Puducherry, along with the chairperson of the Central Water Commission, among others. On September 5, the Supreme Court had asked Tamil Nadu to approach the committee to find a solution to the dispute. The committee had met on September 12 but could not reach a decision then.
