National   

Experts panel on Cauvery distress-sharing formed

By Gargi Parsai

New Delhi June 9. The Cauvery Monitoring Committee (CMC) today decided to set up a sub-committee of technical experts to narrow down the differences between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu over sharing the Cauvery waters during a water-stress year and evolve a distress-sharing formula among the basin States. Pondicherry and Kerala are the other two States that share the river waters.

During the two-hour 17th meeting of CMC here, chaired by the Union Water Resources Secretary, A.K. Goswami, both Karnataka and Tamil Nadu lamented the precarious water levels in the reservoirs in the two States. Karnataka said the water level in its four reservoirs was less than one tmcft, while Tamil Nadu maintained that the level in Mettur was 6 tmcft. The sluice gates of the Mettur are normally opened around June 12 to enable farmers to sow their crop.

The technical sub-committee would be headed by Commissioner (Projects), R.K. Sharma, in the Union Water Resources Ministry, and will have representation from all the four basin States. The panel would "come up with a suitable formula of distress sharing within a couple of weeks'', Mr. Goswami said. The meeting was attended, among others, by the Chief Secretaries of Tamil Nadu, (Lakshmi Pranesh) Karnataka (B.S. Patil) Pondicherry (R. Padmanabhan) and Kerala's Principal Secretary, K.J. Mathews and the Chairman of the Central Water Commission, Jayaseelan.

The Sub-Committee's formula would be finalised in the next meeting of the CMC and would be placed in the Cauvery River Authority meeting, chaired by the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, for political approval.

Mr. Goswami said there was difference of opinion between the States on the practicality or desirability of a (Central Water Commission) formula circulated to them. The differences were on the parameters on which distress sharing was based. "There are several points of view and there can be varying requirements which require further consideration. The States have sought further time to evolve a formula and formulation which the Expert Sub-Committee would do.''

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National

News: Front Page | National | Southern States | Other States | International | Opinion | Business | Sport | Miscellaneous |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary |

Stories in this Section

• Cross-border terrorism unabated: Fernandes
• Leadership issue closed: BJP
• It's for courts to decide: Cong.
• Experts panel on Cauvery distress-sharing formed
• Heatwave abates in north India
• No pressure on me to quit: Naidu
• Court notice to Solanki in Bofors case
• Hearing on scribe's plea for CBI probe on June 16
• SC notice in COFEPOSA case
• TRAI to simplify phone tariff plans
• A security risk for India: Swamy
• Conditions conducive for monsoon advance
• Indian diplomat `attends' Tokyo conference
• Sonia is our HM, says Shinde

Copyright © 2003, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu