The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Central team coming

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jun 09, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Central team coming

By Gargi Parsai

NEW DELHI, JUNE 8. The Centre will send an experts team to assess water availability in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. The senior-level technical team leaves tomorrow.

The three-member team, comprising commissioner-level engineers from the Ministry of Water Resources and the Central Water Commission and a senior scientist from the Ministry of Agriculture, is expected to submit a report in four days. It will make a first-hand assessment of the position in four Karnataka reservoirs and the Mettur dam in Tamil Nadu. It will also survey kuruvai crop and rainfall received in the Cauvery basin. The team will interact with local engineers and IMD experts in both States.

The decision to send a team was taken after an all-party delegation of members of Parliament from Tamil Nadu today met the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, who assured it that "a fair solution acceptable to all'' would be evolved to the dispute over sharing of Cauvery waters among the basin States of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Pondicherry. The delegation sought the Prime Minister's "immediate intervention'', directing the Karnataka Government to release water to Tamil Nadu farmers as per the interim award of the Cauvery Waters Disputes Tribunal.

The 56-member delegation led by the former Minister, Durai Murugan, (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam), was joined by the All-India Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, led by P.G. Narayanan, party leader in the Rajya Sabha, and comprised Union Ministers of the DMK, the Congress and the Pattali Makkal Katchi.

Addressing the MPs, Dr. Singh said distress should be shared equitably so that no region suffered excessively. "The rain god has been kind this year and owing to an early monsoon and heavier than expected rainfall, it is likely that we may not face a situation of distress. I am discussing the matter on priority with the governments concerned, including Karnataka.''

Situation serious: delegation

The delegation told Dr. Singh that the situation of the delta farmers was serious and caused by non-release of water by Karnataka in accordance with the interim award. According to them Karnataka had not fully implemented the award even once. Specifically, there was no water release in the recent past, they said.

"The practice in Tamil Nadu is to release water from the Mettur dam for cultivation on June 12 every year. Since the Karnataka government has not released water to Tamil Nadu as per the award this year too, the release to the delta farmers on June 12 seems nearly impossible,'' they said in a memorandum submitted to the Prime Minister.

Till almost midnight last night, Dr. Singh was closeted with the Minister for Water Resources, Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi, and officials of the Ministry of Water Resources and Law. The meeting discussed the specific role of the Cauvery River Authority, which is chaired by the Prime Minister and has Chief Ministers of all basin States as members. The Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa, has sought an early meeting of the CRA.

An all-party delegation from Karnataka is scheduled to meet the Prime Minister later this week.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Tamil Nadu