Puducherry: Former Lok Sabha MP M Ramadass has urged the Union government to take the constitution of the Bhakra Beas management board (BBMB), a board that manages water and power distribution among a few states in the north, as a precedent and constitute the
Cauvery water management board (CMB) to share water among the states of
Karnataka,
Tamil Nadu and Kerala, and the Union territory of Puducherry.
Ramadass pointed out that the Union government constituted BBMB, which subsequently took over the natural assets of the states of Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh; the national capital territory of Delhi; Union territory of Chandigarh and started regulating sharing of water and power among them.
He also urged Puducherry chief minister V
Narayanasamy to consult legal experts to evolve proposals on the constitution of the CMB and submit them to the Union government for immediate implementation. He also insisted on including a mandatory provision in the proposal, directing Tamil Nadu to release Puducherry’s share (7TMC) of water without fail, irrespective of whether or not the state received its due quota of Cauvery from Karnataka.
Ramadass pointed out that the Supreme Court asserted that the river Cauvery was a national asset, and that it does not belong to any of the four southern states.
“A neutral, autonomous and common authority alone can resolve the issue, and not any particular state,” he observed.
