CHENNAI: A day after the Centre notified the
Cauvery scheme in the gazette, the
Tamil Nadu government on Saturday nominated public works department secretary S K Prabhakar and PWD (Trichy Region) chief engineer Senthil Kumar as members of the Cauvery Water Management Authority and Cauvery Water Regulation Committee respectively.
The state government has sent the nominations to the Union ministry of water resources. “Chief minister
Edappadi K Palaniswami cleared the names on Saturday morning, given the urgency for constitution of the authority and the committee as the agriculture season has begun in the state on June 1,” said a senior government official. While gazetting the notification on Friday, after missing the deadline fixed by the court to give effect to the scheme before the onset of the monsoon, the Union ministry also wrote to the chief secretaries of all the riparian states requesting them to nominate the representatives by treating the issue as “most urgent.”
Till Saturday evening, Tamil Nadu alone had responded to the Centre’s communication. “Hopefully, we will get the nominations from other states - Karnataka, Kerala and the Union Territory of Puducherry - ministry of agriculture and farmers’ welfare and meteorology department in the next few days. We hope to have the first meeting in a week’s time,” Union water resources secretary UP Singh told TOI. The ministry will also have to submit the proposal for appointment of its representatives as full time and part time members and the chairman to the “competent authority” for approval, which is yet to be done.
Modi government has modified the composition of the Cauvery Management Board recommended by the tribunal in 2007 and gazetted in 2013. As a result, chairman of the authority could be either senior/ eminent engineer with wide experience in water resources and handling inter-state water sharing issues, or an
All India Service Officer in the rank of secretary/additional secretary with experience in water resources. The ministry would put out an advertisement calling for applications for filling up the slot, sources said. Till then, taking into account the urgency of the issue, interim arrangement will be made for the chairman of the authority to keep it functional.
Since there is no additional secretary in the ministry at present, Singh himself could be asked by the government to head the authority for the time being, said a source. The ministry is also keen on selecting a technical person – such as chairman of the Central Water Commission – to head the authority.
In a statement, PMK leader S
Ramadoss said that bureaucrats should not decide on water distribution. It should be left to irrigation engineers, he said. “By stating that authority can seek help from the Centre if any state does not cooperate, it is clear the mechanism is a toothless body. Let the authority be vested with legal powers to prosecute the states that don’t comply with its order,” Ramadoss said.
Progress made