The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Experts should deal with water disputes, say writers

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Feb 21, 2007
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Experts should deal with water disputes, say writers

Staff Reporter

`Leaders should think independently of their political bosses in New Delhi'

BANGALORE: Kannada writers have sought the formation of a team of experts from riparian States to deal with inter-State water disputes. This team should follow national and international water-sharing norms.

The writers suggested this while protesting against what they saw as the biased verdict of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal. The protest was organised under the aegis of the Karnataka Kaigarika Mattu Vanijyodyama Kannada Sanghagala Okkuta on Tuesday.

Long-term solution

Writer L.S. Sheshagiri Rao said consulting experts and following the national and international norms of water sharing could be a long-term solution, citing the agreement between India and Bangladesh over sharing of the Ganga waters as an example. That agreement had not only taken into account the concerns of the lower riparian Bangladesh but also the right of India to protect the flow of water at Farakka.

The former Kannada Sahitya Parishat president Sa. Shi. Marulaiah said the expert panel adjudicating the dispute should comprise two persons from each of the disputing parties. Water disputes could be resolved only by those who knew their State and not by outsiders.

Mr. Rao said the first thing the State Government should do now was to prevent notification of the "biased" award of the tribunal, which had not considered the facts given by its own inspection team.

Writer P.V. Narayan said leaders should think independently of their political bosses in New Delhi. It was because of such an attitude that the Tamil Nadu Government had been able to get the Centre's attention. Politicians here should think of the interests of the State first, he said.

Protests continue

Protests against the final award of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal are continuing in Bangalore.

Members of the Karnataka Cable TV Chamber of Commerce staged a demonstration near the Mahatma Gandhi statue here on Tuesday.

They then marched to the Raj Bhavan to submit a memorandum to Governor T.N. Chaturvedi. As prohibitory orders are in force around the Vidhana Soudha and the Raj Bhavan, the police stopped the procession near K.R. Circle.

BHEL Kannada Hitarakshana Samithi held a protest meeting in front of the BHEL office on Mysore Road. Dalit Sangharsh Samithi activists took out a procession from Mysore Bank Circle to Ambedkar Bhavan on Miller's Road to register their protest against the tribunal award.

Members of various Kannada organisations took part in a procession organised by the Bangalore Urban District Janata Dal (Secular) from Kammanahalli Main Road to Banaswadi Main Road.

Novel protest

The Dalit Sangharsh Samithi (Samyojaka) staged a novel protest against the award on Tuesday. Thousands of Dalit activists stood up and observed a minute's silence at Ambedkar Bhavan here in protest against the award, which they described as the "death penalty" for the State.

They said Dalits would be severely affected by the award.

Most of the agricultural labourers in the Cauvery basin in Karnataka were Dalits. Any irrigation water shortage would not just negatively impact agriculture but also throw their life out of gear, they said.

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