Will not release Cauvery water to TN at any cost now, says Deputy CM amid water crisis
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar asserted on Monday there is no question of releasing Cauvery river water to Tamil Nadu at any cost now.
Amid criticism and protests against the government over allegations that Cauvery water was being released from Krishnaraja Sagar (KRS) dam to Tamil Nadu, he clarified that the discharge was meant for Bengaluru, and not for the neighbouring state.
"There is no question of releasing Cauvery river water to Tamil Nadu now at any cost, we have not left (released)....How much water flows to Tamil Nadu, there is an account for it. Even if water is released today it will take four days to reach there," Shivakumar, who is also the water resources minister, told reporters here.
"We are not fools in this government to release water (to Tamil Nadu)," added Shivakumar, also the State Congress chief.
The 'Raitha Hitarakshana Samiti' had staged a protest in the district headquarters town of Mandya on Sunday alleging that water was being released from KRS dam to Tamil Nadu, amid drought and water crisis in many parts of the state.
BJP too had attacked the Congress government alleging that it was keen to protect the interest of DMK, the party's alliance partner in Tamil Nadu, at the cost of Karnataka's farmers and citizens, as it targeted the Siddaramaiah administration for allegedly releasing water from Cauvery river to Tamil Nadu.
Shivakumar clarified that some water was discharged from KRS dam to replenish the Shiva Balancing Reservoir at Malavalli from where it is pumped to Bengaluru.
"From where we pump water to Bengaluru, the water level there was less. Water has to be at a certain level for it to be pumped, so as to maintain that level the water was released...for Bengaluru's water, it was done," he said.
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Pakistan reports two more polio cases; Total tally now 52
ISLAMABAD: At least two more cases of poliovirus were reported in Pakistan, taking the number of infections to 52 so far this year, a report said on Friday.
“The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health has confirmed the detection of two more wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) cases in Pakistan," an official statement said.
The fresh infections — a boy and a girl — were reported from the Dera Ismail Khan district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.
“Genetic sequencing of the samples collected from the children is underway," the statement read. Dera Ismail Khan, one of the seven polio-endemic districts of southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, has reported five polio cases so far this year.
Of the 52 cases in the country this year, 24 are from Balochistan, 13 from Sindh, 13 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and one each from Punjab and Islamabad.
There is no cure for polio. Only multiple doses of the oral polio vaccine and completion of the routine vaccination schedule for all children under the age of five can keep them protected.
