CHENNAI: Pointing out that the Karnataka government has released Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu, PMK president Anbumani Ramadoss has urged the State government to take measures to get 24,000 cusecs of water till the end of September.

In his statement, Anbumani said that only 3,000 cusecs of water is coming to Mettur Dam as Karnataka closed its dams.

"The present storage in the dam is insufficient for Kuruvai crops. On August 11, Cauvery Water Management Authority ordered the release of 10,000 causes of water for 15 days. After releasing the water, Karnataka stopped water even before the lapse of 15 days," he alleged.

He pointed out that storage of the dam has come down to 20 TMC.

As 15 TMC should be stored for drinking purposes, remaining water is insufficient. "To save Kuruvai crops, Cauvery Delta requires at least 40 TMC of water. A meeting of the Authority will be held to discuss releasing water for the next 15 days. The government should explain the status of Kuruvai crops and exhort the Authority to release 24,000 cusecs till the end of September," he urged.

In another statement, PMK founder S Ramadoss urged the State government to take measures to increase the storage capacity of Mettur Dam by 30 TMC.

"The present storage of the dam is only 93 TMC. The government has rejected approval to increase the capacity to 120 TMC citing fund shortage. It is estimated at Rs 3,000 Crore to increase the capacity. When compared to the benefits of increasing the capacity, the expense is not much," he said.