The Hindu : Implement CRA order, says PM

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Sep 22, 2002

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Implement CRA order, says PM

By Gargi Parsai and K.V. Prasad

The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa, and her Karnataka counterpart, S.M.Krishna, (right) presenting memoranda on the Cauvery issue to the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, in New Delhi on Saturday. — Photos: Shanker Chakravarty

NEW DELHI SEPT. 21. The Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, today directed Karnataka to implement the Cauvery River Authority order to release 9000 cusecs (0.8 tmcft) water to Tamil Nadu accounted on a weekly basis even as a Central team of the Cauvery Monitoring Committee will inspect the reservoirs in both the States for water levels and submit a report within three days. The Chief Secretaries of both the States will accompany the team.

The Centre could convene another meeting of the CRA after receiving the team's report.

The Union Water Resources Minister, Arjun Charan Sethi, who briefed correspondents after the Prime Minister separately met the delegations from Tamil Nadu and Karnataka led by their respective Chief Ministers here this evening, said the central team was expected to leave tomorrow. Mr. Sethi said the Prime Minister also appealed to both the States to maintain law and order, saying that it was a State subject. Mr. Vajpayee pointed out that "law and order'' should not be cited as a reason for not sharing distress at a time of drought.

Krishna non-committal

However, the Karnataka Chief Minister, S.M. Krishna, speaking to mediapersons after the meeting, declined to give a commitment whether the State would implement the directions of the Prime Minister, who is also the CRA Chairman. He maintained that the CRA order of September 8 had two qualifying points — "depending on the inflows and on levels in the reservoirs''.

Earlier, Mr. Vajpayee met a 67-member strong all-party delegation (minus the DMK) from Tamil Nadu led by the Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa, and assured it of all efforts to make Karnataka abide by the CRA decision, even as Ms. Jayalalithaa sought immediate Central intervention by taking over the Karnataka reservoirs for the release of water to Tamil Nadu.

Jayalalithaa's plea

In a memorandum submitted to the Prime Minister, Tamil Nadu said there was a shortfall of 10.228 tmcft in the water released by Karnataka at Mettur till September 19 and lakhs of farmers who had lost their `kuruvai crop' might not be able to sow the `samba' crop.

The memorandum did not raise the controversial issues of Central directive to the Karnataka Government under Article 355 or 356.

Later, when asked by mediapersons whether she was satisfied with Mr. Vajpayee's assurance, Ms. Jayalalithaa said, "We need water. In a democratic and federal set-up, we have to make use of all fora. We've gone to the Supreme Court. We've also filed a contempt petition and have approached the Centre. We will await the Supreme Court hearing in the matter (on September 23).''

Asked about the DMK's absence from the meeting today, she said, "It is unfortunate that in a matter so vital to Tamil Nadu as the Cauvery — which is a non-political issue and the life-line of the State — the DMK had stayed away. They also did not participate in the all-party meeting yesterday. We had sent individual letters to all the 10 Central Ministers from Tamil Nadu to participate in this meeting. The absence of the DMK Ministers shows their lack of concern and loyalty to Tamil Nadu.'' The Tamil Nadu delegation comprised 33 political parties, including the Congress and the BJP, four Union Ministers, two State Ministers, 22 MPs and farmers representatives.

`Depleted storage'

Mr. Krishna too met the Prime Minister armed with the support received at an all-party meeting he had convened here earlier, where the State reiterated its stated position of "difficulty in releasing water to Tamil Nadu'' in the wake of drought. Karnataka submitted a three-page memorandum to Mr. Advani.

The State's plea was that the inflows and storages had come down drastically since the CRA decision. It said that besides meeting the drinking water and irrigation requirements, if the State were to ensure release of 0.8 tmcft water at Mettur, the active storages in Karnataka reservoirs would get "wholly exhausted in about 40-45 days, even assuming that the present level of inflows continued during the period.

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