TN asks for Centre's intervention

The Tamil Nadu Assembly on Friday passed a unanimous resolution urging the Centre to stop Karnataka's attempt to construct two dams across the Cauvery river, and demanded that the NDA government constitute the Cauvery Management Board and the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee for effective water-sharing with the neighbouring state.

The resolution also asked the Centre to instruct Kerala not to go ahead with its proposal to establish a reservoir across the Pambar river at Pattisserry. After a two-and-a-half-hour debate, the House passed the resolution, which was unanimously accepted by floor leaders of all political parties. 

The resolution, moved by Chief Minister O Panneerselvam, said Karnataka's plan to construct two reservoirs at Mekedatu across the Cauvery would be in clear violation of the Final Order of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal.

Claiming that Karnataka was planning to construct reservoirs under the guise of a drinking water scheme, the resolution further asked the Centre to advice the state not to take up any scheme in the Cauvery basin without prior consent of the Tamil Nadu government till a permanent monitoring mechanism, like the Cauvery Management Board, was put in place.

The state government also demanded that the Centre immediately constitute the board and the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee as per the apex court's order.

On Kerala’s proposal to construct a new dam over Pambar, a tributary of the Amaravathy river, in Karur and Tirupur districts, the resolution said it is apprehended that irrigation and drinking water supply would be affected as the entire area was dependent on the Amaravathy river. The proposed dam will also obstruct the flow of water to the Amaravathy reservoir.