Kerala violating Cauvery tribunal order: Jaya to PM

Opposes the states dam construction plans

Taking on the Kerala government over Cauvery water dispute, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalitha on Thursday accused the state of “violating” the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal’s (CWDT) final order on drawing water for the “Attapadi Irrigation Scheme”.

The AIADMK leader, meanwhile, also exhorted to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to advise the Kerala government not to go ahead with their ongoing activity which comes as a gross violation of the tribunal’s order.

In a letter to the Prime Minister, an hour before she left for Kodanad in the Nilgiris district, Jayalalitha said, “Though Kerala had claimed 4.5 tmcft of water for the “Attapadi Scheme” before the CWDT, the latter had rejected it and allocated only 2.87 tmcft in its final order on sharing Cauvery waters between the four basin states including Karnataka.”

Dam construction

But now, Kerala has “planned to construct” a dam across the River Siruvani, near Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu, of 4.5 tmcft capacity for the “Attapadi Scheme,” she said. 

This has caused considerable concern among the people of Tamil Nadu as a new dam would not only reduce inflows into the river Bhavani, but also jeopardise the major drinking source of “Suruvani” for the entire Coimbatore city and its adjoining areas, Jayalalitha pointed out.

Moreover, since Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu have all approached the Supreme Court against certain aspects of the Tribunal’s final order, she said it was only proper for all the states concerned to await the notification of the Tribunal’s final order and the Court’s decision “before initiating any new scheme in the Cauvery basin or in its sub-basins,” Jayalalitha wrote in her letter to Singh.

She also urged the Prime Minister to advise the Central Water Commission not to accord technical clearance for Kerala’s proposal of building the new dam on river Siruvani.