Shettar’s letter to PM delayed process, Supreme Court told

The Supreme Court on Friday allowed the Centre’s plea seeking time till January 31 to notify the decision of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal passed in 2007. A bench of justices D K Jain and Madan B Lokur, however, pulled up the Centre for failing to notify the decision by December end.

The court further said it could not allow Karnataka to play “hide-and-seek” over the issue, after being informed that Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar had written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last month, asking him to not to notify the decision unilaterally, contributing to the delay.

Depleting reservoir levels aggravate situation

An acute water crisis looms large over Bangalore this summer, if the monsoon fails again as the levels of reservoirs that supply water to the City have depleted dangerously due to last year’s scarce rains. The warning comes from the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB), despite the Board’s delivery of an additional 500 million litres (MLD) of water to the City daily, under Cauvery IV stage II phase, last year.

Centre promised to notify CWDT decision by December-end

The Supreme Court on Friday pulled up the Centre for dilly-dallying on notifying the final decision of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT) dated February 5, 2007, even though it informed the court on December 5, 2012 that it would notify the decision by the end of December. When Additional Solicitor General Harin P. Raval sought four weeks time for the Centre to take a decision whether to notify the ‘final decision’ or not, a Bench of Justices D.K. Jain and Madan B. Lokur told him: “It is strange. We are to be told you will take a decision in four weeks.”

There is a river that is almost perennial, but its water is not potable and fish inedible. It’s not even used for bathing and washing by people.

This is the story of the once-pristine Vrushabhavathi and the twenty-odd villages under the Byramangala gram panchayat, including Byramangala, Kodiyala Karenahalli, Kodihalli, Chikkakuntahalli, Maravegowdana Doddi, Joganapalya, which have become receptacles for Bangalore’s sewage. According to the 2001 census, 7,654 persons lived in the 20 villages. The population is currently estimated to have crossed 11,000. The problem has persisted for over two decades now with a huge portion of Bangalore’s sewage routed through Vrushabhavathi to reach Shimsha and eventually Cauvery, passing through these villages.

Although inter-State water disputes and arbitration with neighbouring Pakistan over the Kishenganga hydro-electric project in Jammu & Kashmir dominated the functioning of the Union Water Resources Ministry in 2012, it is expected that in the New Year the Government will focus on giving a push to water sector reforms.

With the revised national water policy being “adopted” at the recent National Water Council meeting, the Ministry will prepare during the year an over-arching legal framework of guidelines for the States to follow.

Ensure equitable distribution of water for urban and rural areas, and for wildlife: organic farmer

The State government has been urged to formulate a water policy for the Cauvery basin to harness the resource in a judicious and effective manner. The suggestion comes in the wake of unprecedented drought and failure of monsoon this year and the imperatives of bracing up for a dry summer in Mysore and surrounding regions which depend on Cauvery in the months ahead.

CHENNAI, 29 DEC: Mounting pressure on Centre, Tamil Nadu chief minister Jayalalithaa today insisted that the final order of the Cauvery Tribunal be notified considering the withering crops in the s

Karnataka Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar today asked the Centre not to notify the Cauvery Tribunal award without consulting all the river basin states.

Bangalore’s drinking water crisis is not going to end in a hurry. But, the year 2012 witnessed the pinnacle of this crisis, particulary during summer.

Residents of the newly added BBMP areas, however, had a reason for some hope by the end of the year with the commissioning of the much-awaited Cauvery IV stage II phase by the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) in October. The last and the final drawal from the Cauvery basin to the City will be supplying an additional 500 million litres (mld) of water per day wherein the City will be receiving a total of 1,400 mld by January 2013.

Undeterred by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s refusal to meet him on two occasions in the recent past to discuss the controversial Cauvery water issue, Karnataka Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar has