A cross-section of farmers has welcomed the Supreme Court’s stamp of approval for the modified draft proposals submitted by the Central government on the sharing of Cauvery waters. Leaders of farmers’ associations have urged the Centre to immediately notify the proposals as well as the ruling to constitute the Cauvery Water Management Authority in the gazette.
“We wholeheartedly welcome the Supreme Court’s ruling as the legal, agronomic and political rights of Tamil Nadu have been well and truly established. Truth has prevailed, and we believe the Cauvery water sharing issue is finally settled. We appeal to all riparian States to ensure that amity prevails among the people of the Cauvery basin, and the focus should now be on development and prosperity,” ‘Mannargudi’ S. Ranganathan, general secretary of the Tamil Nadu Cauvery Delta Farmers’ Welfare Association and the original petitioner in the long-drawn legal tussle told The Hindu on Friday.
G. Ajeethan, state technical secretary, Consortium of Indian Farmers’ Associations, said the authority should be duly constituted and gazetted immediately to ensure that the riparian States get their sanctioned quantum of water from June 1.
In a guarded response, P. Ayyakannu, founder, River Linkage Farmers’ Association, said it would be good if the authority was vested with the powers and sanctions of the Cauvery Management Board, as envisaged in the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal’s final verdict. He too stressed that the Centre should not delay constituting the authority and gazetting the same.
P.R. Pandian, coordinator of the Federation of Farmers’ Associations, said it was important that the authority be given powers to seek storage or rainfall details, undertake inspections and direct the release of water, as was envisaged in the final verdict of the tribunal.
Welcoming the SC verdict, CPI State Secretary R. Mutharasan said the Centre must constitute the authority immediately and ensure that adequate quantum of water was released to Tamil Nadu so that its farmers could take up kuruvai cultivation in time.
