GO issues 24 TMC of Cauvery water annually to Bangalore City and its surrounding areas

A government order has been issued to allocate 24 TMC of Cauvery water annually to Bangalore city and its surrounding areas. Stated by Deputy CM and Water Resource Minister DK Shivkumar today while interacting with the Media at Delhi's Karnataka Bhawan. He said that yesterday a government order was issued in this regard. Even though we have a water shortage due to a lack of rain, the people of Tamil Nadu ask for water. Still, 2k cusecs of water have been drained in difficult times. He said, “A hearing may be scheduled next week. We have made all kinds of preparations for it. We are going to submit information and will convince the court as to how much water we need, how much will be saved, how much will be lost to the sea. ”DSK said that the Supreme Court in its order on February 2, 2018, had allocated 33 TMC feet of water for the drinking water needs of people in the River Cauvery basin including Bengaluru City. Earlier 18 TMC was fixed. The remaining six TMCs have been approved for utilization after review. A maximum of 24 TMCs has been ordered. He said that a further 24 TMC should be reserved in the dams and then the remaining water should be used. 

As per the order of the Supreme Court, the Bangalore Water Supplies and Sewage Board gets 6 TMC feet of water to the existing 18 TMC feet of water to meet the drinking water requirements of Bengaluru City and its surrounding areas. Bengaluru City has been growing rapidly in particular Bengaluru North region and considering the growth of Bengaluru City, a long-term project has to be prepared to supply water to Bengaluru North region. When asked if Tamil Nadu would object to the use of 24 TMC water for Bengaluru, he said, "Drinking water is our priority, we are following the order given by the Supreme Court. We will reserve this amount of water in KRS or any part of the Cauvery basin,” he replied. He said, “Tamil Nadu will benefit from the Mekedatu project. I will not comment on the proposed interlinking of some rivers in Tamil Nadu as per the Supreme Court judgment. We release 177 TMC of water to Tamil Nadu every year so they don't have to worry about that. Proposed Mekedatu project across River Cauvery in Ramnagar and the water stored in Mekedatu a balancing reservoir would come to the rescue in times of distress to release water to Tamil Nadu. The Mekedatu balancing reservoir would be of more help to Tamil Nadu.” He said that because of the rain earlier yesterday, the flow in Karnataka Reservoir has increased a little.