Cauvery committee meet inconclusive; TN, Ktka trade charges

Tamil Nadu on Monday raised the issue of poor availability of water to the state despite the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal award, a charge denied by Karnataka which said it was providing water as per the order. Representatives of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka were face to face here at the meeting of Cauvery Monitoring Committee (CMC) which remained inconclusive.

Now both states are banking on a meeting of the Cauvery River Authority (CRA), chaired by the Prime Minister, to settle the issue. Tamil Nadu said Karnataka is not releasing water for it as per the tribunal award. But Karnataka said it was following the award in letter and spirit. Karnataka has all along maintained that if there is water, it will certainly release it.

But if there is acute shortage of water even for drinking purposes, then it will have to protect the interests of its people. Sources aware of the deliberations said since issues relating to the dispute are already pending in the Supreme Court, no immediate decision could be taken by the Committee.

Both the states have been raising technical and legal points on the award and its subsequent clarifications to support their stand. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa had recently written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh urging him to immediately convene the meeting of the CRA to finalise the Distress Sharing Formula with Karnataka on sharing Cauvery water during the distress period.

The PM heads the CRA which is required to give effect to the implementation of the Tribunal's interim order of June 1991. So far CRA has held six meetings and CMC has held 25 meetings.