United State to knock Centre’s door on Cauvery water dispute

CHENNAI: An all-party meeting convened by the State government here on Thursday showed a rare unity of purpose in pressing the Centre to form a Cauvery Management Board (CMB) and a Cauvery Water Regulation Committee (CWRC) to ensure release of water within the six-week time frame set by the Supreme Court in its verdict on February 16. It decided to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi to emphasise the point on quickly putting a mechanism in place while exploring legal remedies as the verdict snipped 14.75 tmcft water  from Tamil Nadu’s share.

As many as 40 parties and 14 farmers’ associations took part in the seven-hour long meeting where there were no ugly scenes, no name-calling and no attempt to score political brownie points.
Some leaders suggested the government file a review petition before the Supreme Court. A resolution on consulting experts to examine all legal options was adopted.

Another resolution said an all-party delegation led by Chief Minister Edapaddi K Palaniswami would meet Modi and urge him to form the CMB and the CWRC at the earliest.
Many leaders suggested that the delegation meet the prime minister during his forthcoming visit to the city on February 24. A decision on this count is likely to be taken on Friday.

The meeting, chaired by Palaniswami and Deputy Chief Minister O Paneerselvam, showed how Cauvery is a unifying force in the state. DMK working president M K Stalin said though the Supreme Court had in its verdict cited the Godavari and Krishna Water Tribunals, it had not given a clear direction to the Centre to form the CMB.  So, the matter has to be dealt with caution, he said.

All biggies present

MK Stalin (DMK), S Thirunavu­k­k­a­r­a­s­ar (Congress), K Ba­lakrishnan (CPM), R M­u­­t­h­a­r­a­san (CPI), Ta­milisai Soundararajan (BJP), Vaiko (MDMK), K Krishnaswamy (Puthiya Thamizhagam), GK Mani (PMK), K Veeramani (DK), Thol Thi­r­u­m­a­v­a­l­a­v­a­n (VCK), Jawahirullah (MMK), Seeman (Naam Thamizhar Katchi), GK Vasan (TMC), and R Sarathkumar (Samathuva Makkal Katchi)