Chennai: Chief Minister K. Palaniswami on Wednesday said the AIADMK government is fighting legally to form the Cauvery Management Board and Cauvery Water Regulation Committee and the case pending in the Supreme Court would come up for hearing for July 11.
The issue was raised by DMK member J. Anbazhagan, who took part in the discussion on demand for grants to agriculture department in the Assembly. He alleged that the AIADMK, despite being the third largest party in Parliament, had not exerted pressure on the Centre to form Cauvery Management Board.
He recalled that the final verdict of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal was delivered on February 5, 2007 and the DMK did not initiate action on the judgment. AIADMK government under former Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa filed a case in the Supreme Court and obtained a verdict on February 19, 2015, to gazette the verdict. Several letters were written to the centre to form the CMB. Since, there was no response a case had been filed in the Supreme Court, he recalled.
Similarly, a case had been filed in the Supreme Court against the construction of check dams by Andhra Pradesh government across river Palar. The government would take appropriate steps to get the required water for Tamil Nadu farmers, he added.
On the linking of Tamirabarani, Karumeniyar and Nambiyar rivers, the Chief Minister said process of land acquisition is going on for the third and fourth phase of the project. For the first two phases, nearly 90 per cent of land had been acquired, he added.
The project could be started after the land acquisition process is completed, he said. The government will have to pacify the land owners to acquire the land, he said and added this is causing delay in the project.
