Meet on Cauvery put off

By Gargi Parsai

NEW DELHI, MAY 18. The meeting of the Cauvery Water Authority convened by the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, tomorrow has been postponed following the decision of the Karnataka Chief Minister, Mr S.M. Krishna, to stay away.

This is the second time within eight months that the meeting of the Authority had to be put off on account of Karnataka. Last September too a scheduled meeting of the Authority to discuss Cauvery water releases was deferred as the then Chief Minister, Mr. J. H. Patel, had reported ``sick''.

The Water Resources Minister, Mr. C. P. Thakur, told The Hindu that the meeting now tentatively scheduled for June 20, had to be rescheduled as the quorum would be incomplete without one of the Chief Ministers. The Prime Minister is the Chairman of the Authority with the Chief Ministers of the four Cauvery-basin States - Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Pondicherry - members. Several Chief Ministers have started arriving in the Capital for the Inter- State Council meeting scheduled for Saturday.

Mr. Thakur refuted Karnataka's complaint that enough notice was not given to it for the meeting. He said all necessary formalities had been completed and notice for the meeting sent well in advance. Earlier the meeting was slated for May 23, but due to preoccupation of the Prime Minister, it was advance. Apparently, Mr. Krishna has said he was busy with panchayat elections in the State to be able to attend the meeting.

Mr. Thakur said his meeting with the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Mr. M. Karunanidhi, and his Kerala counterpart, Mr. E. K. Nayanar, on the Mullaperiyar dam storage level issue would take place as scheduled tomorrow afternoon. However, his one-to- one meeting with Mr Krishna is likely to be off, he said. The latter had sought a meeting with Mr. Thakur before the meeting of the Authority.

The agenda of tomorrow's meeting was to discuss the Rules and Regulations of the Authority suggested by a Committee chaired by the Cabinet Secretary, Mr. Prabhat Kumar, and implementation of the interim order of the Cauvery River Water Dispute Tribunal. Under the order, Karnataka has to make stipulated releases of 205 tmcft to Tamil Nadu within a water year.

Last September, a dispute arose when Tamil Nadu had alleged that Karnataka had made short releases and sought the Authority's intervention on that score. A central team headed by the Water Resources Secretary, Mr. Z. Hasan, visited the region and drew a schedule of water releases by Karnataka to Tamil Nadu to save the `kuruvai' crop from withering. Karnataka then sought two weeks time to make the releases. An Authority meeting was to have discussed the issue, but Mr. Patel expressed his inability to attend. In the meantime, the monsoon arrived, Karnataka went to the polls and the meeting was deferred.

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