Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday assured a delegation of DMK MPs here that he would hold discussions with Union Water Resources Minister Harish Rawat on the setting up of Cauvery Management Board (CMB) and Cauvery Water Regulation Committee (CWRC), as ordered by the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT), in its final order to guarantee its strict compliance.
According to DMK spokesperson and North Chennai Lok Sabha member T. K. S. Elangovan, Dr. Singh gave this promise, when the delegates, led by their parliamentary party leader T. R. Baalu, met him at Parliament House and gave him a letter written by DMK president M. Karunanidhi thanking the PM for gazetting the CWDT’s final order on February 19 this year.
“We also sought early constitution of the CMB and CWRC, as after the gazetting of the notification, the Cauvery River Authority (CRA) and Cauvery Water Monitoring Committee (CWMC) have ceased to exist,” Mr. Elangovan told The Hindu.
The two official bodies — CMB and CWRC — could make sure that the water was distributed by Karnataka to the rest of the riparian States as per the CWDT’s recommendations on water sharing, he said. The others in the delegation included Union Minister Palani Manickkam, Tiruchi Siva, A. K. S. Vijayan and Tamaraiselvan.
As per Section 6(2) of the Inter State River Water Disputes Act, 1956, the decision of the Tribunal, after it is published in the Gazette, will have the effect of an Order or a Decree of the Supreme Court.
The Tribunal, in its final order, had concluded that it would be necessary to establish a mechanism which should guarantee the functioning, supervision and operation of reservoirs and the regulation of water releases therefrom, and recommended its establishment, with its composition, role and functions.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa, too, had written a letter in this regard to Dr. Singh recently.
