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Karnataka, Tamil Nadu fail to agree on Cauvery issue

Tara Shankar Sahay in New Delhi

Karnataka and Tamil Nadu failed to arrive at an agreement on sharing water at the Cauvery River Monitoring Committee meeting at Delhi on Saturday, with both states insisting on a Cauvery River Authority meeting headed by the Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Briefing the media, Union Water Resources Secretary A K Goswami said while Karnataka agreed to provide 8,000 cusecs of water per day to Tamil Nadu, the latter wanted 1.25 tmc feet (11575 cusecs) water, as stipulated by the CRA earlier, and the Supreme Court later.

He said no date has been set for the CRA meeting, adding it would be 'held soon.'

Those who attended the meeting included Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary Sugavaneshwar, Pondicherry Chief Secretary T T Joseph, Kerala Special Secretary Asha Thomas and Karnataka Chief Secretary Dr A Ravindra.

Sugavaneshwar held hectic consultations with Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa over telephone on the Karnataka government's offer.

After going back and forth on the pros and cons of the offer, the Tamil Nadu chief secretary finally conveyed to the meeting that there was no question of his state accepting any quantity lower than 1.25 tmc feet water.

Karnataka Chief Secretary A Ravindra said his state had given its own comments on the distress-sharing formula worked out by the Central Water Commission. As it was not acceptable to the state, it had suggested as to how to modify the same, he said.

He said Karnataka still agreed to release some water depending on its own inflow, as it was facing very poor rainfall and storage.

Karnataka Chief Minister S M Krishna is camping in Delhi seeking a meeting with Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to impress on him the need for the immediate convening of the CRA before the prime minister leaves on his foreign visit on Monday.

Earlier, former chief minister of Tamil Nadu M Karunanidhi charged the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam government with 'missing the bus' on the Cauvery issue.

"The government should now concentrate its efforts on getting adequate water for the delta farmers, so that they could raise at least the long-term 'samba' paddy crop, which is also the mainstay in the region," he said.

With inputs from Sathiya Moorthy in Chennai

Cauvery Water Dispute: The Complete Coverage

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