Vaiko seeks UN agency's intervention in Cauvery dispute

CHENNAI: Taking objection to the Centre’s delay in setting up the Cauvery Management Board as per the Supreme Court order, MDMK leader Vaiko on Saturday urged Leo Heller, Special Rapporteur on Human Rights to Safe Drinking Water and Sanitation of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to intervene and take up the issue with the Indian government.
In a letter to Heller, a copy of which was released here, Vaiko, who is also coordinator of Cauvery Protection Movement, said, “the Union government is dilly-dallying and trying to hoodwink the people of Tamil Nadu by not constituting the Cauvery Management Board.” If the board is constituted as per the final award of the tribunal, the Karnataka government cannot construct new dams, which will protect justice and livelihood of people of Tamil Nadu, the leader said.

Citing the guidelines of Helsinki convention that establish the rights of lower riparian states, Vaiko said the Karnataka government restrained the flow of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu by building dams, Kabini, Harangi and Hemavathi in the 1970s, violating the agreement reached between the erstwhile Madras Presidency (Tamil Nadu) and Princely State of Mysore (Karnataka) in 1924. “Talks were held 26 times between the states to settle the dispute, but failed,” the MDMK leader said.

The Supreme Court ordered constitution of tribunal to resolve the issue in 1990, however, the Karnataka government attempted to nullify the award of the tribunal by promulgating an ordinance. The apex court had to nullify the ordinance later, making strong strictures against the government. In the meantime, Tamils living in Karnataka were attacked by some extremist Kannada organisation, Vaiko said. In 2007, the tribunal gave its final order, awarding 192tmcft (thousand million cubic feet of water), besides stating that Cauvery Management Board be constituted on the lines of Bhakra Beas Management Board.

The award was notified by the Union government in February 2013, after the apex court order. “Even then the government did not constitute Cauvery Management Board… The Tamil Nadu government made an appeal to the court for board. The court gave a verdict on February 16 to frame a scheme to implement the order,” Vaiko said. Cauvery river provides drinking water supply to 19 districts of Tamil Nadu, including Chennai. If Karnataka’s plan to construct new dams at Mekedatu and Rasimala realized, Tamil Nadu will not get water, he said.