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The Tamil Nadu government has condemned Karnataka's decision not to release Cauvery waters and will convene an all-party meeting on Tuesday. The meeting will be held at around 11 am at the State Secretariat and will be chaired by Water Resources Minister Duraimurugan.
On July 14, the Karnataka Government decided to release only 8,000 cusecs of water from the Cauvery River to Tamil Nadu instead of one thousand million cubic metres of water. This decision was taken after an 'all-party meeting' was held on Sunday to discuss issues related to the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee (CWRC) at Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru, Karnataka. The meeting was attended by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Deputy CM DK Shivakumar, BJP leader CT Ravi, and other prominent leaders of the state. After an all-party meeting at Vidhana Soudha, Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah said, "Today an all-party meeting took place in which Deputy CM DK Shivakumar, BJP leaders and Mysuru basin leaders were present. They opined that we should not release water and appeal before CWMA. Mohan Katarki, a member of the legal team, suggested that considering the present situation, we can release 8,000 cusecs of water and if rain comes, we will increase the number. This decision has been taken in the meeting." Meanwhile, CM Siddaramaiah, in a press conference, said, "The collective opinion is that we can't leave 1 TMC of water in Tamil Nadu every day. Second is that we have to appeal before the court as we can't leave 1 TMC water and we have decided to leave 8,000 cusecs every day to Tamil Nadu." Earlier in March this year, Bengaluru was gripped by a severe water crisis, as many as 7,082 villages across Karnataka and 1,193 wards, including in Bengaluru Urban District, were vulnerable to a drinking water crisis in the coming months, as per an assessment made by the government as of February 10. A report by the revenue department has identified the majority of villages in Tumakuru district (746) and most wards in Uttara Kannada, as staring at a grave water crisis in the days ahead. The governments of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu have been locked in a protracted tussle over the sharing of Cauvery waters. The river is seen as a major source of sustenance for the people in the two states. (ANI)
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