Vajpayee also spoke over phone to Commerce Minister Ramakrishna Hegde on the matter, the sources said.

The Prime Minister's personal intervention follows a plea by Tamil nadu Government to the Centre to prevail upon Karnataka to immediately release Cauvery waters as per the river water tribunal's interim awards.

A Tamil Maanila Congress delegation led by former Union Minister Jayanthi Natarajan also called on Vajpayee and sought his intervention to resolve the stalemate.

Earlier in the day, the Tamil Nadu Government had said that there was no need for it to directly approach the Karnataka Government to get the required quantity of Cauvery water, as it was the responsibility of the CRWA.

Talking topresspersons here, State Public Works Minister Durai Murugan said the Chief Secretary A P Muthusamy and Public Works Secretary were in New Delhi to meet the CRWA secretary Z Hasan to prevail upon the authority to direct Karnataka to release water immediately to save the standing kuruvai (short term) paddy in two lakh acres in the Cauvery delta areas.

Rejecting Karnataka's claim that it was in no position to release water, he said there was adequate storage in Karnataka reservoirs to make good the total deficit of 30.12 TMC ft due at Mettur since August.

Durai Murugan, who visited the tail-end areas along with two other ministers and officials over the last two days, said the present storage at Mettur reservoir would be used in a judicious manner so that it could last till about October 5.

However, only the arrival of rains and regular release of water from Karnataka would constitute a real solution to the grave problem faced by farmers in the delta districts, the Minister said.

Speaking toThe Indian Express earlier in the day, Karnataka State Irrigation Minister K N Nage Gowda seemed optimistic that Karnataka would make good the shortage in Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu before the end of the season ending June-July next year.

Nage Gowda said the interim order of the Cauvery Tribunal specified a weekly and monthly time-table for water release to Tamil Nadu. If the time-table could not be met, the order permitted release of deficit water before the end of the season, which is June next year, he said.

"This 15 TMC ft shortage for one month can be made good before June-July," he said. In the event of a monsoon failure, the distress formula as specified by the Tribunal in its order in 1996 could be resorted to, the Irrigation Minister said.