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Karnataka to ask Cauvery tribunal for final order

The Karnataka government is contemplating an appeal to the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal to complete the proceedings and pronounce its final order on the dispute, besides writing to the Centre to formulate a national water policy immediately.

Major and Medium Irrigation Minister K N Nage Gowda told newsmen in Bangalore today that the government would seek legal opinion and consult senior officials before appealing to the Tribunal.

The state was agreeable to a continuous hearing by the Tribunal to arrive at a final decision and sought the Tamil Nadu government's co-operation to settle the issue once for all.

Nage Gowda said the Tribunal had held 27 sittings so far. While nine Tamil Nadu witnesses have been heard during 24 sittings, only two of the eight witnesses from Karnataka have been heard so far. Their examination and argument could be held on a daily basis so that the Tribunal could complete its work soon, he added.

The government would write, in the next two or three days, to Prime Minister A B Vajpayee to convene a meeting of chief ministers of riparian states to formulate the guidelines for the national water policy, he said and pointed out that an assurance to this effect had been given by the previous Narasimha Rao government to the Supreme Court in 1996.

He said any assurance given to the court by the Centre should have to be honoured and it was the right time to do so before the final hearing of the case on August 12.

UNI

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