State quietly releases water

As tension prevailed in the Cauvery basin districts, the government started releasing water to Tamil Nadu from Wednesday night, sources said. On Thursday night, 10,000 cusecs began to flow out directly from the Krishnaraja Sagar dam, sources added.

Though Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar on Thursday did not state in the Assembly that water was being released, he said that not  complying with the Supreme Court order to release water to Tamil Nadu would affect the state’s  interests.

“History suggests that whenever Karnataka defied court orders or the Cauvery River Authority (CRA) directives, the state’s farmers  had to face the consequences,” Shettar said in his statement in the Assembly, citing instances to defend his stand.

However, he said he would take a suitable decision after seeking legal opinion.

The law department, head of state’s legal  team fighting on the Cauvery issue Fali Nariman and Advocate General S Vijayashankar have advised Shettar to  comply with the apex order. “Chances of Karnataka getting relief at the Cauvery Monitoring Committee meeting will be brighter if we release water,” Nariman is said to have told Water Resources Minister Basavaraj Bommai.