Chief Minister Jayalalithaa has reiterated to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi the urgent need for forming the Cauvery Management Board (CMB) and the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee as per the final order of the River Water Disputes Tribunal.
Ms. Jayalalithaa’s latest missive on Friday comes in the wake of reports in the media attributed to Union Water Resources Minister Uma Bharati that militated against the “assurance given by the Prime Minister” of going by the rule book and playing fair. The Minister’s statement had created confusion in Tamil Nadu, she said.
Ms. Jayalalithaa reminded Mr. Modi that she had chosen to ignore the press statements by Union Ministers from Karnataka Ananth Kumar and Venkaiah Naidu and defended Mr. Modi, despite protests from Tamil Nadu political parties, stating that the Centre needed to be given time to deal with the issue.
But Mr. Modi’s meeting with an all-party delegation from Karnataka in which the team presented a memorandum “which is replete with prevarication and misleading statements aimed at making the final order of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal itself nugatory” has necessitated this urgent letter, Ms. Jayalalithaa stressed.
“This is something which I could not ignore,” the Chief Minister observed in her letter calling upon the Prime Minister to go by the final order of the tribunal that was “as binding as an order or decree of the Supreme Court” in establishing the Cauvery Management Board and the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee.
Their constitution is not optional but an integral part of the final order, she noted in her letter. Unless the board was formed, the notification would be only on a piece of paper as stated by the tribunal itself.
“I request you to overrule the objections raised by Karnataka and constitute the Board,” she added.