CHENNAI: With the Centre taking the first step in honouring the direction of the Supreme Court on implementing the Cauvery scheme by notifying it in the Union Gazette, of course, in the nick of the moment, the Tamil Nadu government got into action on the next move – formation of the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) and appointing member to it.
“We expect the CWMA to be formed within a week. The State government will name Tamil Nadu PWD Secretary SK Prabhakar as its member in the authority. Similarly, Cauvery Technical Cell Chairman R Subramanian will be the member of the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee (CWRC) to be formed soon,” a top official of State government told Express.
The Supreme Court, while approving the modified Cauvery draft on May 18, directed the Centre to notify the scheme before the onset of the south west monsoon which normally begins from June 1. On this occasion too, the Central government waited till the last moment to notify it.
There are expectations that UP Singh, Secretary, Union Water Resources Ministry, is likely to be made the temporary chairman of the CWMA. Taking an exception to this, Cauvery Rights Retrieval Committee leader P Maniarasan told Express, “Singh is already functioning as a full-time officer as Union Water Resources Secretary. Appointing him as chairman of the CWMA will make the authority a sub-committee of the Union Ministry.”
Maniarasan also pointed out that as Secretary to the Union Water Resources Ministry, Singh had failed to honour the directions of the Supreme Court many times. So how the people of Tamil Nadu will expect him to be fair to their State, he asked and said the Tamil Nadu government should not accept this appointment and the Centre should appoint a full-time chairman immediately.
The Centre notified interim and final awards of the Cauvery tribunal many years ago but they were never implemented. At least this time, the final award of the Tribunal, as modified by the apex court, should be implemented at the earliest, he said.
PWD secy SK Prabhakar likely to represent TN
There are expectations that UP Singh, Secretary, Union Water Resources Ministry, is likely to be made the temporary chairman of the CWMA. The State government will likely name Tamil Nadu PWD Secretary SK Prabhakar as its member in the authority