Seeking Fair Share Of Cauvery Water, TN Minister Duraimurugan Meets Union Water Resources Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat In Delhi

Tamil Nadu Water Resources minister and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) general secretary Duraimurugan today (5 July) met Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat in Delhi seeking release of Tamil Nadu's fair share of water from the Cauvery river.

After the meeting he said that while the state should have received 12.213 TMC of water for till date including the month of June, it has received only 2.993 TMC, leading to a deficit of 9.220 TMC.

His visit comes a day after he said that the state's Water Resources secretary had written to the Cauvery Water Management Authroity (CWMA) requesting it to direct Karnataka to release Tamil Nadu's share of water for July as per the schedule.

He added that the deficit faced in June was raised at a meeting of the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee (CWRC) on 30 June.

Karnataka deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar recently said that the state could not release water to Tamil Nadu as there was insufficient water due to the late arrival of monsoon.

Duraimurugan's statement came after Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state president K Annamalai alleged that the ruling DMK was going soft in its opposition to the Mekedatu project on the Cauvery River because its ally Congress was now in power in Karnataka.

He had also said if Chief Minister MK Stalin does not raise the issue when he attends the opposition meeting in Bangalore later this month, BJP workers would protest with black flags and chant 'Go Back Stalin' on his return.

The state BJP is also using past statements of Chief Minister Stalin calling himself 'Deltakaaran', i.e., someone who hails from the Cauvery delta region in the state which is most dependent on the river water for agriculture, to question him on the issue.