Cauvery row: Deve Gowda appeals to protestors to maintain peace

Former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda, on Tuesday, appealed the people protesting against the Supreme Court’s order on release of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu to maintain peace and protest peacefully.

Noting that Apex Court’s verdict was binding on the state, Mr. Gowda said that not abiding the order would result in Monitoring Committee taking over and release water as per Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT) verdict, regardless of the storage.

Discounting the suggestion of changing the State’s counsel Fali S. Nariman, Mr. Gowda appealed to political parties to stand united on the Cauvery issue.

Regretting over the “live and let live” theory of the court, he observed that the court should have formed a committee to assess the ground situation. “How can we live after releasing water?” he asked.

Mincing no words to criticise final award of CWDT in 2007, he said: “While restricting Karnataka farmers to grow one crop, the tribunal allowed Tamil Nadu to have three crops. Similarly, while awarding 24 tmcft of water to Tamil Nadu’s ‘unknown and undisclosed’ projects, the tribunal denied drinking water to two thirds of Bengaluru city.”