Chennai: The Centre is most likely to present its Cauvery draft scheme on Monday when the case comes up before the Supreme Court, keeping its promise to deliver it as soon as the Karnataka election is completed.
The Union Water Resources Secretary U.P. Singh had told the apex court when the matter came up on May 8 that the scheme was almost ready and could be presented before the court once the Cabinet gave its approval. Since the concerned ministers were in Karnataka in connection with the Assembly election in the state, it was not possible to get the ministerial approvals for the scheme; besides, it would not be advisable to announce the draft scheme before the poll and vitiate the law and order situation there, he had said. Following which, the court adjourned the case to May 14 and directed that the water resources secretary should personally present the draft scheme.
“I am confident that Secretary Singh will bring the Cauvery Scheme when he comes before the Supreme Court tomorrow (Monday). I am highly hopeful that my struggle for four decades for Cauvery will not go in vain and I will see enough water flow into our delta”, said Mannargudi S. Ranganathan, secretary, Cauvery Delta Farmers Association.
“My confidence that good news will now come out of the Supreme Court stems not from the attitude and honesty of the Centre, which has been dodgy, but from the strong manner in which the apex court has been asserting itself in upholding what it strongly believed to be correct and right, such as the latest instance of its collegium insisting on the elevation of Justice K.M. Joseph. I am sure that the court will apply the same firmness in dealing with the Cauvery case when it comes up tomorrow”, he told DC.
“We can hope there will be no more adjournments allowed, no more procrastination permitted”, he added.
The Cauvery Water Dispute Tribunal (CWDT) had, in its detailed order in 2007, ordered 192 tmc ft of water release per year to Tamil Nadu. This was reduced to 177.25 tmc ft by the Supreme Court on February 16 (2018) holding that TN can make up the loss by extraction of 10 tmc ft groundwater. However, even in this reduced quota, Karnataka has so far released only 116.69 tmc ft and failed to give even the 4 tmc ft that the apex court had ordered as an immediate interim relief. Chief Minister C. Siddaramaiah has been saying these past few days that there was no water “even for Karnataka’s needs” and so the court diktat cannot be implemented.
TN farmers, such as old warhorse Ranganathan, are hopeful that the Supreme Court will take note of all these intransigent responses from Karnataka and the ‘dishonest’ conduct of the Centre - right from the pronouncement of the CWDT award (2007), when the case comes up before it on Monday.
“The first priority for the Cauvery management scheme, when it is constituted by the Centre, would be to ensure that the TN farmers get Karnataka to release water for the ensuing Kuruvai season commencing June 12. I am expecting better days ahead for our farmers as the southwest monsoon is expected to set in by the end of May and we will have the Supreme Court delivering us justice”, said Ranganathan, adding, “I am now 82 and I have been waging this Cauvery war for four decades”.
