Will Karnataka be making too generous a commitment before the Supreme Court on Monday by offering to release 38 tmc of water to Tamil Nadu between October and end-January next year?
Even as farmer leaders and Opposition parties are apprehensive over making such commitment, the State government feels the fears are unfounded. The State has calculated the quantity (38 tmc) based on the ‘distress water year’ of 2003-04, which had a stark similarity to the present scenario in the State, assert senior officials.
“About 35 tmc of water is expected to flow from the intermediate catchment area that begins past the KRS and Kabini reservoirs and stretches till the interstate border at Biligundlu measuing point. Only the remaining quantity of 3 tmc will be released from the State’s reservoirs. It will not be a burden on the State’s reservoirs,” say highly placed sources in the government.
The water flow along the 225-km-long intermediate catchment area will provide 35 tmc during the cropping season and an additional quantity of 3 tmc is what the State will be effectively drawing out of its reservoirs. “In fact, the reservoir levels this year are a notch better compared to what the State had recorded in 2003-04,” noted the sources.