Bangalore: Karnataka government on January 16 decided to enhance the quantum of Cauvery river water release to Tamil Nadu "substantially" from tomorrow (Jan 17) in a positive response to the Prime Minister A B Vajpayee request to the state.

Commencing from tomorrow the state would increase the water flow from its reservoirs from the present level of 1200 cusecs for one week, Karnataka Minister for Water Resources H K Patil said at a press conference in Bangalore.

Patil despite repeated queries to specify the "substantial" increase in quantum the government has decided to release, evaded a reply remarking "quantum will be decided by our engineers taking into consideration the water level in all the four reservoirs".

He said the Prime Minister has not set any specific quantum of water release, but in his letter written to the Karnataka Chief Minister S M Krishna on January 14 has only asked the state to release "substantial quantum of water at the earliest".

Patil said, "that neither the Prime Minister nor the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalitha has sought 4,500 CUSECS of water release daily and added "whatever possible from our side we are doing in-spite of the difficult situation and keeping in mind the request by Vajpayee."

Patil also refused to share information on the quantum of water the state was required to release to Tamil Nadu as per the Cauvery Disputes Tribunal interim order, saying "I don't want to go into those aspects".

He however said keeping in mind the obligations of the state in implementing the interim order and in the light of distress situation faced by Tamil Nadu, the state has decided to release more quantum of water from the existing level of 1,200 CUSECS.

The state was already ensuring flow of 1,200 CUSECS of water to Tamil Nadu in accordance with its decision to release water till 60 days.

Patil said after releasing the enhanced quantum of water for a week, the state would reduce the release taking the average of water it had to ensure to Tamil Nadu in 60 days.

PTI