Veerappa Moily

NEW DELHI: With inter-State river water disputes continuing to remain intractable in many parts of the country despite strenuous efforts spread over decades, the Administrative Reforms Commission is looking at the possibility of adopting the model used by South Africa for resolving such disputes in that country with great success.

Disclosing this, Chairman of the panel, Veerappa Moily, said the panel has commissioned the former member of Planning Commission, L.C. Jain, to study the South Africa model with a view to finding out whether it could be used here.

"The model used by South Africa has been highly successful in resolving disputes over sharing of river waters among its provinces, to the satisfaction of all the stakeholders. We want to find out whether it can be used to resolve the various inter-State river water disputes here."

In an informal chat with reporters, Mr. Moily, who is also member of the Congress Working Committee in charge of party affairs in Tamil Nadu, said the party would reconstitute the Pradesh Congress Committee and the District Committees in the State before May 15.

He said he and AICC Secretary, Shantaram Naik, would tour the State next month for the purpose. Consultations would be held with leaders of the Pradesh Congress Committees, elected members and party workers before completing the exercise, he added.

Agreeing that the party unit in Tamil Nadu was riven with factionalism, Mr. Moily said the revamp process was aimed at ending factionalism and boosting the morale of the party workers. Youth and women would be given adequate representation in the reconstituted committees.

He brushed aside a question on demands from some State party leaders for the party to join the State Government, recalling that there were no pre-poll understanding between the party and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam on the issue.

Congress is only a part of the DMK-led Democratic People's Alliance. The alliance was working well in the State, he added.

Asked whether there was any possibility for the Congress to once again forge an alliance with Janata Dal (Secular) in Karnataka, the senior leader from Karnataka ruled out any such move. "JD (S) has polluted itself by joining hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party."

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