Farmers’ organisations here have urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to uphold the spirit of federalism by constituting the Cauvery Management Board, as mandated by the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal and criticised Karnataka’s opposition to the formation of the board. With a delegation of Karnataka MPs meeting the Prime Minister on Tuesday to register their opposition on the issue, farmers here condemned Karnataka’s stand and said that the Centre should ensure that that State abided by the final award of the Tribunal and the Constitution.
“The final award has been gazetted and given the legal and Constitutional stamp of approval. Karnataka’s stand amounts to wilful flouting of the Constitution and does not speak well of federalism. The Prime Minister should ensure that the Constitution is upheld and respected by all including by his own partymen,” observed S. Ranganathan, general secretary, Cauvery Delta Farmers Welfare Association.
Dismissing Karnataka’s contention that appeals were pending against the final award of the Tribunal, Mr.Ranganathan said that the appeals related to allocation of water and they had nothing to do with the formation of the Cauvery Management Board. “There may be difficulties in implementing the Tribunal award at times of paucity of water. At such times, distress sharing will be taken care of by the board,” he said.
Puliyur A.Nagarajan of the Congress Agricultural Wing, Tamil Nadu, said Karnataka was creating impediments in sharing of the river water for several years now.
The Cauvery is the lifeline of farmers in Tamil Nadu and the statement made by Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers Ananth Kumar and others that there was no move to set up the Cauvery Management Board is indicative of a planned attempt to deny the rights of the delta farmers, he said.
The Bharathiya Kisan Sangam argued that the Karnataka government had a Constitutional obligation to abide by the rule of law, as per which the final award of the Cauvery Tribunal has been gazetted.
The association, at a meeting of district office-bearers held here on Monday with P.Ayyakannu, State vice-resident, in the chair, adopted a resolution criticising Karnataka for failing to release the monthly quantum of water due to Tamil Nadu.
Urging the Centre to form the Cauvery Management Board, the association said it would mobilise farmers to launch an agitation at the Krishnaraja Sagar reservoir in the first week of July to condemn the intransigence of the Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.
