However, Karunanidhi, after explaining to Patel the grave situation faced by the crops in the delta region, insisted that water should be released within a week.

An official press release said earlier Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee spoke over the phone twice to Patel and insisted that Karnataka should supply water to Tamil Nadu. The release added that the details of conversation between Patel and Karunanidhi were conveyed to Vajpayee who was away in Madhya Pradesh on tour.

Meanwhile, at Mettur the storage position further dwindled to a low of 16.82 tmc ft (full capacity 93.47 tmc ft). The water level stood at 48.40 feet (full height of 120feet). The inflow was 672 cusecs and discharge was 17,309 cusecs.

Meanwhile, an official press release today described Karnataka Irrigation Minister K N Nage Gowda's statement carried in The Indian Express today as factually incorrect and misleading.

The release claimed that the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal's (CWDT) interim order on adjusting the shortfalls of water releases to Tamil Nadu in a particular week or month, has been misquoted in Nage Gowda's statement. While fixing the monthly quantum for an irrigation year commencing from June to May, CWDT ordered that the monthly quantum should be supplied equally week by week and the deficit in any one week has to be made good in the following week. Nowhere in the interim order has Karnataka been permitted to release the deficit supplies at the end of the season.

The short supply of water by Karnataka during July and September, 1999, even with comfortable storage in Karnataka's reservoirs in Cauvery basin itself is improper and is against CWDT'sinterim orders. Mentioning of releasing the deficit at the end of the season is even worse particularly when there is imminent danger of loss of crops in Tamil Nadu after the present available water in Mettur dam dries up by September end.

The release added that the actual shortfall in receipt of water at Mettur as on September 21 as per CWDT's order is 31.60 tmc ft. It is inappropriate to talk of just 15 tmc ft when the actual deficit is 31.60 tmc ft and the mention of making good this deficit in June-July is adding insult to injury. ``Karnataka ought to be aware that CWDT has clearly ordered in the clarificatory order on April 3, 1992, that in case of acute distress the parties could approach the CWDT''. There is obviously no distress in Karnataka as the comfortable storage in their reservoirs reveal. The CWDT has not passed any order whatsoever in 1996 regarding any distress in case of monsoon failure, the release said and asked Karnataka to release 31.60 tmc ft water immediately.