CHENNAI: Pointing out that political considerations have so far stopped the formation of the Cauvery Management Board (CMB) and Cauvery Water Regulation Committee (CRC), Chief Minister
J Jayalalithaa on Friday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to form these regulatory bodies immediately to implement the final award of the Cauvery Tribunal overruling the wrong objections raised by Karnataka. Else, the final award would only ‘remain on a piece of paper’, she said.
In her 31-page letter to the Prime Minister giving the whole history of the Cauvery water dispute and the trials and tribulations undergone by Tamil Nadu to get its legitimate share of water from the upper riparian State, the Chief Minister said, “Karnataka can’t raise any objection to the setting up of the CMB and CRC as it is not optional but an integral part of the Final Order itself. The decision of the Tribunal is sacrosanct and is on par with the decision of the Supreme Court.”
Jayalalithaa said though she had been ignoring the statements of Union ministers Ananth Kumar and Venkaiah Naidu on the Cauvery water issue, she was forced to write the letter to the Prime Minister following the meeting of a delegation led by Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and the memorandum submitted by them to the Prime Minister.
“The memorandum submitted by Karnataka was replete with prevarications and misleading statements and is aimed at making the Final Order of the Cauvery Tribunal itself nugatory,” the Chief Minister said and added that any objection raised by Karnataka to the formation of the CMB would be unconstitutional and should not be encouraged. To drive home her point, she also countered all the issues raised in the memorandum of Karnataka.
On the remark by Union Minister for Water Resources Uma Bharti that there was no SC direction to form the CMB at all, the CM said it had created confusion among the people of Tamil Nadu.
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