New Delhi: Karnataka on January 13 agreed to release "some water" to Tamil Nadu as a goodwill gesture to help it tide over the prevailing distress situation, Water Resources Minister Arjun Sethi said.

"Details of the quantity of water to be released would be worked out at a meeting of experts from the states and my ministry," he told reporters on the separate meetings Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee had with Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalaithaa and Karnataka Chief Minister S M Krishna lasting about 90 minutes.

Sethi said this would be an "informal arrangement" as the Cauvery River Water Authority (CRA) meeting could not take place due to lack of quorum in the absence of Chief Ministers from Kerala and Pondicherry.

The minister said Jayalalithaa had requested the Prime Minister to ask Karnataka to release "huge quantity" of water on the basis of earlier orders of the tribunal.

"As a goodwill gesture, the Kartanaka Chief Minister agreed to release some water to meet the distress situation in Tamil Nadu," Sethi said.

PTI