BENGALURU: The Karnataka government has reiterated its opposition to any move on forming the Cauvery Management Board in line with the Apex Court verdict in the inter-state river water sharing dispute. The state has suggested formation of a Cauvery Decision Implementation Committee instead. Tamil Nadu has been demanding the formation of the board.“The contention of the Chief Secretary of Tamil Nadu that CMB should be a part of the scheme is wholly contrary to the mandate of the judgment and law,” Karnataka Chief Secretary K Ratna Prabha stated in a letter to U P Singh, Secretary to Union Ministry of Water Resources.
The Centre had convened a meeting of Chief Secretaries of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry to discuss mechanisms that need to be put in place to implement the Apex Court verdict and had sought views from the states. Karnataka made it clear that any authority formed by the Centre will only have powers for dispute resolution.The letter stated that the state has prepared a scheme for consideration of the central government. “Under our suggested scheme, the Committee is to resolve disputes raised by the aggrieved state in the implementation or non-implementation of the Supreme Court’s decision modifying the decision of the Tribunal. The Committee would also determine the shares of the states in distress year.”
She stated that the scheme will have incidental functions entrusted to the monitoring agency to collect data and information on rainfall, storage and groundwater. The agency shall design a hydro-meteorological network by using a Real Time Data Acquisition System (RTDAS). The letter also stated that under the judgment modifying the decision of the Tribunal, Tamil Nadu’s rights and interests are confined and limited to the right to receive 177.25 tmcft of Cauvery water at the inter-state border Biligundlu in a normal year and a proportionate share based on the ground reality in a distress year. “Tamil Nadu has no other right or interest in the manner in which Karnataka stores or utilises its share of water in 740 tmcft of flow and as well as the surplus water in its territory,” the letter said.