BENGALURU: Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy on Tuesday said his government will not violate the Supreme Court’s order but conditions accompanying the Cauvery Management Authority cannot be accepted. Deeming the conditions on Karnataka “unscientific”, Kumaraswamy said the scheme
should be discussed in both houses of the Parliament before being implemented.
“Any scheme or redressal mechanism in inter-state water dispute should be brought before the Parliament for discussion according to Section 6(A) (of Inter-State Water Disputes Act). There is no question of violating the Supreme Court order but we are requesting for the lapses in the scheme to be addressed,” Kumaraswamy said on Tuesday.
The statement comes after the Chief Minister met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi on Monday and appealed not to go ahead with the establishment of the Cauvery authority. “The board will evaluate water levels every 10 days. We have to give reports of water released to Tamil Nadu frequently, and they will decide what crops our farmers should grow along the basin. How does that make sense?” Kumaraswamy asked, insisting that questions need to be asked only on water sharing and not on the choice of the crop of farmers. Kumaraswamy highlighted the state’s right to grow the crop of its choice in the water allotted to it.
“Conditions are being applied only to the upper riparian state but what about the lower riparian states? What happens if there is excess rain in TN? Where does that water go? Straight into the sea,” he said.
Kumaraswamy said the Centre had issued a gazette notification in the matter and it would come up for discussion in the Parliament within six months but he was compelling it to be brought up as soon as possible.Karnataka, including the previous Siddaramaiah government, has been opposing the setting up of a Cauvery authority while Tamil Nadu has been demanding speedy implementation of the SC order.
Tamil Nadu parties Slam HDK, Modi
Chennai: Condemning the demand made by Kumaraswamy that the functioning of the Cauvery Water Management Authority be deferred until Parliament cleared the scheme, DMK leader M K Stalin said Modi, who had denied audience to the TN CM Edappadi Palaniswami and the Leader of Opposition, met Kumaraswamy without fail. PMK founder S Ramadoss said HDK had raised fresh objections to the Cauvery Authority while Minister for Water Resources DK Sivakumar aid the State would not nominate its members for the Cauvery Authority and the Regulation Committee.