New Delhi: The Cauvery river water sharing dispute is likely to resurface again. Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa is forcing the Centre to constitute the Cauvery Management Board.
This supervisory board would be headed by Union Water Resources Secretary. The upper riparian state Karnataka is opposing any such move by the Centre. A delegation of Karnataka leaders and MPs, cutting across party lines has already urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Tuesday not to constitute the Cauvery Water Management Board to supervise the sharing of water citing that appeals against the Cauvery Water Dispute Tribunal's final award were pending before the Supreme Court.
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who held a meeting of all Karnataka MPs in New Delhi, said that the any decision should not be taken in "haste" and that the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT) has nowhere in its award stated that the board was mandatory.
Siddaramaiah said there was no need to constitute the board as a supervisory committee headed by Union Water Resources Secretary was already monitoring the water release from Cauvery on a regular basis. He added that an interlocutory application filed by Tamil Nadu has been merged with the civil appeals before the apex court.
The state BJP leaders have denied reports that a Cabinet note on constituting the Board has been circulated by the Centre. Siddaramaiah said the State government has anyway decided to take the delegation to Modi as a step of "abundant caution". In a rare gesture Siddaramaiah shook hands with his former mentor and former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda at a meeting of Karnataka MPs in New Delhi. Gowda is considered an authority on the Cauvery water related issues. He spoke at length in the meeting.
He said all the parties were united in fighting for the cause of the State and there was no scope for politicising the issue. Jayalalithaa who met the Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi a week ago has urged him to constitute the Cauvery Water Management Board. The BJP which has 17 MPs from Karnataka is in a fix over the proposal. The ruling Congress in Karnataka is blaming the BJP MPs inaction and ineffectiveness for the crisis.
The delayed monsoon has also complicated the matter further. If the monsoon is below normal, the KRS dam at Mysore may not reach its maximum water storage level causing water shortage for irrigation in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
According to the CWDT judgement, water should be shared proportionately during a distress year. There has been a good monsoon in the past three years and Tamil Nadu was keeping quiet over Cauvery. If the monsoon is below normal, Jayalalithaa is likely to make it a big issue.
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