K'taka: MP seeks PM's intervention in Cauvery row

Bangalore, May 2: Congress leader Tesjawini Seeramesh, MP, today urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to intervene in the vexed Cauvery water dispute and ensure that the term of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT) was not extended further.

In a letter to the Prime Minister, a copy of which was released to the press here, she appealed to him to stop the proposed constitution of a three-member Expert Committee, on the direction of two members of CWDT, to study the crop pattern and water requirement in the Cauvery basin.

She pointed out that constitution of such a Committee at this stage would affect the interests of farmers of Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry, Kerala and Karnataka and urged him not to extend the term of the Tribunal due to expire on August six.

Ms Tejaswini said farmers were put to untold hardship due to the inordinate delay caused by the Tribunal in pronouncing the final award. Besides, the delay would shatter Karnataka's hope of irrigating an additional six lakh acres the coming monsoon season, she added.

She said the Tribunal, set up 16 years ago, had conducted 570 sittings, after collecting a large number of documents, running to 50,000 pages.

Therefore, there was hardly any justification for the two Members of the Tribunal to further investigate the matter by appointing an Expert Committee, she opined.

UNI