Centre unlikely to form Tribunal for Pennaiyar river dispute

Tamil Nadu says that building a reservoir to a tributary of Pennaiyar violates the inter-state water disputes Act

The Centre is unlikely to constitute a Tribunal to resolve the dispute on sharing of the Pennaiyar river water between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

Instead, it will ask the two states to resolve the issue amicably, since the water quantity involved is small.

“Two meetings were held for negotiations, but the dispute could not be resolved. We may give more opportunities to the two states to resolve it,” a senior official in the Jal Shakti ministry told DH.

Setting up a Tribunal is a time-consuming process, especially if it involves small quantities of water, said a ministry official. Recently, the Supreme Court asked the ministry to clarify its position on Tamil Nadu’s demand for setting up an inter-state water dispute tribunal. The next data of hearing is December 14.

Talks favoured

Karnataka has been arguing that the matter can be resolved through talks. It is building a dam across Markandeya river near Yargol village in Kolar district to provide drinking water to villages in Kolar, Malur and Bangarpet taluks.

The state has obtained all permissions to build the dam at a cost of Rs 240 crore.

However, objecting to the project, Tamil Nadu claims that since Markandeya river is a tributary of Pennaiyar, construction of a dam by Karnataka will obstruct natural flow downstream.

Tamil Nadu says that since a large number of people in the state depend on Pennaiyar river for irrigation as well as drinking water purpose, the dam and the diversion of water would hit them hard.

It says building a reservoir to a tributary of Pennaiyar violates the inter-state water disputes Act.

The proposed dam diverts surplus waters of Varthur tank. Karnataka is also implementing a lift irrigation scheme at Yellamallappa Chetty lake and is working on a scheme to supply the water from Pennariyar in Thattanur to 160 tanks. On January 20, 2020, the union government had constituted a negotiation committee for the dispute.