Political parties in Tamil Nadu welcomed the notification of the final award of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal.
Recalling his role in the formation of a tribunal for the Cauvery dispute, DMK president M. Karunanidhi said in 1970 itself as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, he wrote to the Union government for forming a tribunal. Moreover, as Chief Minister, he had held discussions on several occasions with different Prime Ministers, various Union Ministers of Water Resources and with five Chief Ministers of Karnataka.
Mr. Karunanidhi thanked the Supreme Court for its role in notifying the order and the Union government, particularly Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, for this gesture. The notification also proved wrong the charges that the Union government was keeping the final order deliberately and the DMK party was supporting it, he added.
MDMK general secretary Vaiko said the next step was to constitute the Cauvery Water Management Board and Cauvery Water Regulation Authority to give a final shape to the order of the Tribunal.
Tamil Nadu Congress president B.S. Gnanadesikan in a statement said only on Monday last various political party leaders from Karnataka led by Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar met the Prime Minister and insisted that the Union government should not notify the final order. Despite that the Union government had notified the final order on Wednesday. The notification proved that the Union government always fair to the people.
Terming the notification of the final order by the Union government a victory for the people of Cauvery delta, D. Pandian, State President of the Communist Party of India, said that people of Cauvery delta region were fighting for the past 40 years for Cauvery Water rights. The State government had put in enormous efforts to compel the Union government through the Supreme Court to notify the final order, he added.
