Charging the Centre with not showing the “necessary alacrity” in constituting the Cauvery Management Board and the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Friday said the formation of the machinery would be the only lasting solution to the travails of farmers in the Cauvery delta.
In a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the Chief Minister said she had already written to him in February and March this year to immediately constitute the board and the committee as the commencement of the irrigation year was fast approaching.
“However, the Centre has not shown the necessary alacrity in constituting the above machinery for the implementation of the final order (of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal), even though the same was published in the gazette on February 19, 2013.” The State government had filed an application before the Supreme Court seeking a direction to the Centre to constitute the board and the panel for the effective implementation of the tribunal’s final order.
On May 10 this year, the court had recorded the submission of the Additional Solicitor-General that “the follow up action pursuant to the notification dated February 19, 2013, is under active consideration of the Central government” and ordered the constitution of a Supervisory Committee under the Chairmanship of the Water Resources Secretary to ensure the implementation of the final order till the Cauvery Management Board was constituted.
Ms. Jayalalithaa said in her view, this arrangement, was only an interim one. She was of the firm opinion that the formation of the board and the committee would be the only lasting solution to end the problems of the farmers in the Cauvery Delta.
“Lakhs of farmers of Tamil Nadu cannot be made to wait any longer for justice which has long been delayed to them as they face season after season of acute agrarian distress forced upon them by a neighbouring State.”
To alleviate the farmers’ misery, the Centre should immediately implement the tribunal’s final order which had been gazetted after a delay of six years, she said.
