Can't release water: Karnataka

Karnataka on Monday virtually turned down Tamil Nadu's request to release seven thousand million cubic feet of water to save the standing crops in the Cauvery basin.

"Absolutely no water in Karnataka now. We have only 11 tmc ft this time. It is terribly distress," Karnataka Chief Secretary B S Patil said after the Cauvery Monitoring Committee meeting.

Observing that in a normal year, the Cauvery basin gets 340 tmc ft of water, Patil said this year Karnataka got only 140 tmc ft.

He said he would place Tamil Nadu's request before the Karnataka government. "But the reality is otherwise. The realistic position is totally different."

Urging Karnataka to take a decision on Tamil Nadu's request before the Republic Day, Union Water Resources Secretary V K Duggal, who chaired the meeting, said the meeting was held in an atmosphere of goodwill.