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Attributing Karnataka's manifold increase in its anicut area over the years for the shortage of water in reservoirs there, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Sunday asked how could Karnataka put the blame on monsoon failure for not releasing Cauvery water when it was able to even hold and use water for summer crops.
Reacting to Karnataka Chief Minister S M Krishna's statement in Bangalore on Saturday that his state was not in a position to release Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu as the state itself did not have water, Jayalalithaa alleged that Karnataka was not able to release water as it had increased storage capacity of dams, besides taking to summer crop cultivation in a big way.
Hence, Tamil Nadu was not getting its due share of water from Karnataka as per the interim award of Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal, she said, adding that Karnataka was using the monsoon failure only as an 'excuse' for the shortage.
She termed as 'unreasonable' Krishna's statement that shortage of water in Krishnarajasagar dam was preventing Karnataka from releasing water.
"It is unfortunate that Krishna has chosen to make a condescending and palpably untrue statement in utter disregard to the interest of the Cauvery delta farmers of Tamil Nadu," she said.
Stating that Tamil Nadu was aware that southwest monsoon was yet to intensify in Karnataka's catchment areas, Jayalalithaa alleged that even when the monsoon was normal, Karnataka refused to release water to its neighbouring state, but increased its storage in 'unauthorised' reservoirs.
She said it was 'unfortunate' that the Cauvery River Authority and monitoring committee, which were fully aware of storages and flows in the reservoirs, had allegedly not bothered to insist that Karnataka implement the tribunal's interim order.
It was precisely for such reasons Tamil Nadu had decided to dissociate itself from meetings of both the CRA and monitoring committee, she said, while referring to the June 21 resolution by the state Cabinet to boycott the meetings henceforth.
Jayalalithaa claimed that Karnataka's utilisation of water for the summer crop alone had increased from 14.5 tmc in 1971-72 to about 52 tmc in 1990-91. She charged Karnataka with shifting its cropping period for its second crop from October to December/January to February to May and exhausting the available storages by the time the southwest monsoon arrived.
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