BENGALURU: Irked by the Supreme Court order and “apathy” on the part of Cauvery Water Supervisory Committee, JD(S) patriarch H.D. Deve Gowda on Monday urged PM Narendra Modi to intervene and resolve the vexed dispute .
Speaking to reporters here, Mr Gowda felt the PM could move a bill in parliament for formation of a Cauvery Water Board. He said the Supreme Court, which had earlier advocated a policy of “Live and let live”, has not taken the state’s decision to appeal for modification of its earlier order in the right spirit. “In one place, the SC says that peaceful protest is the right of people, but the state is punished by it for protests. I had told people not to resort to violence. The tone of protests might not be proper, but we should not be punished in such a harsh manner. Earlier, I had advised the government to release water as directed by the SC. Now, we are not in a position to release water. Whatever stand, the government has to take is left to the CM,” Mr Gowda added.
BS Yeddyurappa: Goverment mishandled issue
Coming down heavily on the SC verdict on Monday, state BJP president B.S.Yeddyurappa said it had only aggravated the Cauvery water dispute. Blaming the state government’s mishandling of the issue for the situation, he said it was bound by the verdict as it had submitted an affidavit to the SC saying it would release 10000 cusecs of water to TN. With the court now ordering release of 12000 cusecs of water to TN till September 20, Karnataka’s drinking water problem would only worsen, he said. “When people here are facing a drinking water problem, how can the state release water to Tamil Nadu? The state government is responsible for this grim situation,” he said.
MB Patil: Will seek legal opinion
The government will obtain the opinion of its legal team and discuss it in Tuesday's Cabinet meeting where the future course of action on the Cauvery issue will be decided, said Water Resources Minister M.B. Patil.
Without spelling out what the action would be, he said the SC, based on the state’s modification petition, has directed Karnataka to release 12,000 cusecs of water to TN till September 20. In fact, the SC on September 5 asked Karnataka to release 15,000 cusecs till September 15. With today's direction, Karnataka had to release an additional 2.5 tmcft or 3 tmcft water to TN. He said the Cauvery Supervisory Committee met in Delhi to decide on the quantum of Cauvery water to be released to TN and other states. However, it postponed its meeting to September 19 as it wanted more details.
