The Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal on Monday allocated 419 tmc ft of water annually to Tamil Nadu and 270 tmc ft to Karnataka, which however will actually release only 192 tmc ft of water to Tamil Nadu in a year.

In the much-awaited final verdict after more than 16 years of hearings, the Tribunal also awarded 30 tmc ft of Cauvery river water to Kerala and 7 tmc ft to Puducherry, the other parties to the dispute.

The Tribunal, set up in 1990, had in its interim order given 205 tmc ft of water to Tamil Nadu.

Headed by retired Justice N P Singh, the three-member Tribunal had arrived at the total availability of water at 740 tmc ft. The actual release of 192 tmc ft will take place as measured at the Biligundlu reservoir on Karnataka-Tamil Nadu border.

The verdict can be challenged by any of the parties in court.

Under the final verdict, the monthly release by Karnataka has been scheduled as 10 tmc ft in June, 34 in July, 50 in August, 40 in September, 22 in October, 15 in November, 8 in December, 3 in January and 2.5 each in February, March, April and May.

'Since the major shareholders in the Cauvery waters are the states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, we order that tentative monthly deliveries during the normal year be made available by the state of Karnataka at the inter-state contact point presently identified as Biligundlu and discharge station.

The quantum of 192 tmc ft of water comprises 182 tmc ft from the allocated share of Tamil Nadu and 10 tmc ft allocated for environmental purposes', the Tribunal said in its 1000-page order.

During arguments, Tamil Nadu pleaded for allocation of 562 tmc ft of water to meet irrigation, domestic and industrial requirements. Karnataka had pleaded for a share of 465 tmc ft of water.

N S Rao and Sudhir Narain were the other members of the Tribunal which was originally headed by Justice Chittatosh Mukherjee who later quit.

There has been constant friction between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu on the Cauvery water issue, which assumes sharp political tones quite often and is usually resolved by the bounty of monsoons.

The Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation had, earlier, suspended all its inter-state bus services to Karnataka.

Sources said the decision was taken as a precautionary measure to avoid any untoward incident. Presently, the buses are plying till the Karnataka border, the sources added.

Meanwhile, security had been strengthened at the state border and at the Mettur Reservoir to avert any untoward incident, police said.

With UNI inputs