Charging Karnataka with “unjustly utilising” Cauvery water for summer irrigation, the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Ms J. Jayalalithaa, today asked the Prime Minister, Dr Manmhohan Singh, to convene a meeting of the Cauvery River Authority to discuss the issue.

Karnataka has been “unjustly utilising” the water for summer irrigation from February to May by depleting the storage in its four major reservoirs, she said in a letter to Dr Singh.

Reservoirs' storage

The Kerala Chief Minister, Mr Oommen Chandy, hopes the long-pending dispute between Kerala and Tamil Nadu over the Mullaperiyar dam can be resolved through legal processes, as the neighbouring State has not come forward for talks.

“We are always ready for talks, either bilateral or through the Centre’s mediation. But Tamil Nadu has not agreed to that. In this situation, we expect a solution to the issue from the Supreme Court,” Mr Chandy said.

The Supreme Court today permitted Kerala and Tamil Nadu to get copies of the report submitted by the monitoring committee on the Mullaiperiyar Dam row.

A five-judge constitution Bench of the court headed by Justice D K Jain, while permitting the two warring states to get copies of the report in a sealed cover, posted the matter for further hearing to 23 July.

Senior counsel Harish Salve and Rajiv Dhawan, both appearing for Kerala, today told the Bench that the state was willing to evolve a “political consensus” on the vexed dam issued.

Per capita availability of water in the country has declined to one-third in the past 65 years, the Water Resources Minister, Mr Pawan Kumar Bansal, informed the Rajya Sabha on Monday. Enough water was still available if the scarce natural resource was used judiciously, he said during Question Hour.

“A national water policy is on the anvil. I will announce that soon.”

The Supreme Court-appointed Empowered Committee on the Mullaperiyar dam today finalised its much-awaited report on various aspects of the structure and will submit it to the court on Wednesday.

The five-member committee, headed by the former Chief Justice of India, Mr A.S. Anand, met here today and finalised the report that is understood to have focused on all aspects of the 119-year-old dam, including its safety.

The Tamil Nadu Government has approached the Supreme Court to prevent Karnataka from using the Cauvery water stored in its four main reservoirs for irrigation between February and May.

This demand is in line with the final order of Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal on February 5, 2007.

Kerala today affirmed its commitment to build a new dam at Mullaperiyar in place of the 116-year-old structure, saying its resolve to do so is based on the principle of ‘water for Tamil Nadu and safety for Kerala’.

The Governor, Mr H. R. Bhardwaj, in his address to the legislative assembly to mark the start of the budget session, said the issue relating to the dam, over which Kerala has a long-standing dispute with Tamil Nadu, is the foremost crisis the UDF Government has had to face since coming to power in May 2011.

Taking strong exception to Kerala’s reported “unilateral” action in ordering real time monitoring of Mullaperiyar Dam along with the Centre without Tamil Nadu’s consent, the Chief Minister, Ms J. Jayalalithaa, today slammed it as a “blatant violation” of the principle of federalism and constitutional framework.

In a letter to the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, she referred to reports of Kerala deciding “unilaterally” to install real time monitoring system for water build up, calling it yet another attempt to exacerbate fears in Kerala about its safety.