Jaya's new letter on Cauvery will embarrass PM

New Delhi, May 17: Putting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in a fix, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa today urged him to order the implementation of the final award of Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal.

She has written a letter to Manmohan Singh on Friday and said: "I exhort you to order the Ministry of Water Resources to constitute the Cauvery Management Board and the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee without any further delay."

Jayalalithaa's request gives the prime minister a bit of discomfort. Tamil Nadu has Cauvery dispute with the Karnataka state and till recently it was ruled by the BJP. Now, the government is by the Congress and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is from Mysore region, which depends on the Cauvery water. The inevitable decision of the prime minister is bound to generate voices of dissent in Karnataka.

Even the choice of words by Jayalalithaa will cause lot of heartburn in Karnataka. She says that the farmers of Tamil Nadu are facing agrarian "distress forced upon by a neighbouring state."

The gazette notification gives the award a legal seal. Under Section 6 of Inter State River Water Disputes Act 1956, the central government has to notify the award of the tribunal.

According to Jayalalithaa, the centre has not shown necessary alacrity in constituting the two bodies (CMB and CWRC) for the implementation of the final order of the tribunal.

"Many lakhs of farmers of Tamil Nadu cannot be made to wait any longer for justice which has long been delayed to them as they face season after season of acute agrarian distress forced upon them by a neighbouring State," she said.

"To alleviate the misery of the farmers of Tamil Nadu, the Government of India should immediately take steps to operationalise the tribunal's final order which has been Gazetted after a long delay of six years," Jaya demanded.

Now, the ball is in the court of Congress prime minister and the Congress government in Karnataka.

OneIndia News