The State government on Friday opposed the Union government’s initiative to set up a Cauvery management board to ensure the implementation of the award of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal on water sharing among Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah objected the formation of the board on the ground that appeals on the award were pending in the Supreme Court.
The Chief Minister said he had sought an appointment with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on June 10 to explain to him the State’s stance on the constitution of the board. He would lead a delegation comprising the four Union Ministers and MPs from the State, and Floor Leaders of the legislature to New Delhi and urge the Centre to refrain from setting up the board till the apex court delivered its verdict on the pending petitions, Mr. Siddaramaiah said.
He was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a programme to lay the foundation stone for a Mahatma Gandhi statue on the State Secretariat premises. Mr. Siddaramaiah said a meeting of the Floor Leaders of the State legislature would be convened on June 9 to discuss issues related to the proposed setting up of the board.
Tamil Nadu’s demands“I read a report in The Hindu that the Centre was moving expeditiously on the water-related demands raised by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa. It circulated a draft Cabinet note to the Ministry concerned,” the Chief Minister said.
He said he had written to the four Union Ministers from Karnataka — Railway Minister D. V. Sadananda Gowda, Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister Ananth Kumar, Urban Development, Housing and Poverty Alleviation Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu and Minister of State for Civil Aviation G.M. Siddeshwar — explaining Karnataka’s stance on the Cauvery issue and requested them to take steps to protect the water interests of the State.
Mr. Siddaramaiah said setting up of the board would adversely affect the State’s interests, particularly supply of drinking water to Bangalore city. The Tamil Nadu government had filed an interlocutory application in the Supreme Court seeking constitution of the board, he said.
The Chief Minister, who refrained from speaking further on the issue, said the Cauvery Monitoring Committee had been monitoring release of water from Karnataka to Tamil Nadu.
