JOIN USUnion Power and Corporate Affairs Minister M Veerappa Moily on Wednesday urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to review the Cauvery River Authority’s (CRA) directive, in view of the ‘disastrous situation’ in the Cauvery basin in Karnataka.
In a letter to the prime minister, copies of which were released to the media, Moily said the farmers of Cauvery basin had already been put to irreparable hardship as the crops had dried up and depletion of water level would further deteriorate the situation.
In contrast, he claimed the North-East monsoon had set in over Tamil Nadu, which would solely benefit that State. He pointed out that the flow generated in around 22,000 sq km downstream of Karnataka reservoirs benefit Tamil Nadu.
Moily has urged Singh to immediately convene a meeting of the CRA comprising the prime minister and the chief ministers from Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Puducherry and Kerala to review the September 19 decision.
Senior Congress leader D K Shivakumar defended Singh on the Cauvery issue saying that the State government got the adverse order from the CRA due to its own lapses.
Speaking to reporters, he alleged that the prime minister’s order to release 9,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu remained unquestioned as Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar walked out of the meeting without negotiating.
Shivakumar claimed that the prime minister recently told a Congress delegation from the State that he was ready to reduce the quantum had the chief minister tried to negotiate.
“But Shettar walked out of the meeting in order to gain political mileage,” he alleged. The ruling BJP has been making a false claim that the prime minister has convened CRA meeting on October 12 and that he will give a favourable order. “The CRA meeting cannot be held on October 12. There will be no quorum as the chief ministers of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry will not participate in it,” he added.