Bangalore: Karnataka government has decided to release 4,500 CUSECS of Cauvery water daily to Tamil Nadu for a week to save the standing crops there, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister D B Chandre Gowda said on January 15.

The decision comes two days after Karnataka agreed to release 1,200 CUSECS of Cauvery water daily to the Mettur reservoir in Tamil Nadu till February end that worked out to about six tmcft (thousand million cubic feet).

"We have decided to release 4,500 CUSECS for one week," Chandre Gowda said. The decision stemmed from Karnataka government's desire to save the standing "samba" crop (long-term paddy crop), he said.

"What purpose would it have served if we release the water later. We want to save the standing crops," Gowda said.

On January 13 in New Delhi, Karnataka Chief Minister S M Krishna agreed to release 1,200 CUSECS on a daily basis even as the Centre had asked both Karnataka and Tamil Nadu to work out the possibility of enhancing the quantum of releases in the next two weeks as part of distress-sharing.

Expressing disappointment over Karnataka's decision to release 1,200 CUSECS, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa said on January 14 that as a last resort, her state had asked for the release of 4,500 CUSECS on a daily basis for 14 days.

PTI