Chennai: Strongly opposing the Centre's move to form a single tribunal to arbitrate inter-state river water disputes, Leader of Opposition M.K. Stalin on Tuesday urged the state government to exert pressure on the Union government to set up the Cauvery Management Board, besides appealing in the Supreme Court.
Expressing shock at the Centre's move, Stalin said it would delay justice to the state farmers and deny them Cauvery water. A grave suspicion had arisen among the people and farmers in the state that a situation of delaying justice to Tamil Nadu for many more years is being deliberately created. The Centre should abandon this partial act of forcing Tamil Nadu to wait indefinitely for Cauvery water rights, he said.
The cunning strategy of forming a single tribunal for all river water disputes should not be linked to the verdict of Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal. Cauvery Management Board and Cauvery Water Regulation Committee should be formed immediately to save Tamil Nadu farmers, he said. Stalin also appealed to Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam to exert pressure on the centre, besides appealing in the Supreme Court.
Tamil Nadu did not get Cauvery water as per the final order since Karnataka government had not respected the tribunal order or Supreme Court order, causing grave injustice to Tamil Nadu farmers. This had led to continuing suicides by farmers in the Cauvery delta districts.
Even after the Supreme Court ordered the formation of Cauvery Management Board, the central government had opposed the verdict, denying the rights of Tamil Nadu in an inhuman way. The Cauvery case itself had been dragging in the Supreme Court causing great concern.
Tamil Nadu demanded the formation of a tribunal since Karnataka government did not co-operate for negotiations on Cauvery water sharing. The Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal was formed in 1990 when V.P. Singh was the Prime Minister. The final verdict was given by the tribunal 17 years after the formation of the tribunal and it took six years to gazette the final order. The gazetted order had not been implemented for the last three years, Stalin said.
