An all-party meeting chaired by Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar was convened to discuss the stand to be taken by the state on the release of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu at Cauvery River Authority (CRA) meeting to be held in New Delhi on Wednesday.
It was decided that the state will appeal to work out a distress sharing formula. The CRA meeting will be presided by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Shettar told reporters here on Saturday that the meeting were by top brass leaders, including, Leader of Opposition in Karnataka Legislature Siddaramaiah, S R Patil, H D Revanna and Lok Sabha members.
He said that storage of water level various reservoirs was evaluated.There was a deficit of water to meet the requirements of farmers of the state.
During the meeting, experts on the subject said that Karnataka is not in a position to oblige the request of Tamil Nadu to release water when most part of the state are reeling under severe drought.
The leaders who attended the meeting also said that the water in Mettur dam is enough to meet the requirement of farmers in Tamil Nadu where the water would enough for the next 45 days.
“Tamil Nadu is also set to receive good north-east monsoon rains in the coming days. The CRA would be asked to measure the extent of distress in both states owing to the deficit in rainfall,” said Shettar.
Siddaramaiah said that the water level in various reservoirs in Karnataka are far from satisfactory and the situation in the state is worse than in Tamil Nadu.
JD(S) Lok Sabha member Chaluvanarayana Swamy took exception to Karnataka’s decision to release 10,000 cusecs of water when it is facing severe drought.
Shettar also said that the state government has fixed advance procurement price of sugarcane for the fresh crushing season at Rs 2,200.
“The state government has also decided to enact State Advisory Price Act on sugarcane purchase price,” the Chief Minister said.
7-DAY CEASEFIRE IN NAXAL AREAS: CM
Bangalore: Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar here on Saturday said that the government has decided to declare a seven-day cease fire from Monday in Naxals infested areas.
He added that some prominent left wing Maoist members have expressed their willingness to surrender While refusing to disclose the names,the Chief Minister promised to extend all cooperation to the left extremist group members to lead a normal life.
“The government would dole out attractive package for those who would like to join the mainstream,” he said.
According to him, the state government would also consider to drop criminal charges which are not grave in nature against the Naxalite members.
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