Cauvery award injustice to Karnataka: Congress

Bangalore, Feb 5 (UNI) Senior Congress leader and Leader of the Opposition in the Karnataka Legislative Council H K Patil today opined that the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal, which pronounced its final verdict on the water row, has done injustice to Karnataka.

Speaking to newspersons here, he demanded Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy to convene an all-party meeting to discuss the award's impact on the State and find a solution to set right the ''injustice'' meted out to the farming community in the State.

Taking strong exception to the Chief Minister not convening an emergency Cabinet meet and all-party meeting, he said ''all parties should stay together and fight for the State's interest.'' Mr Patil, also the former Water Resources Minister, contended that the Tribunal restricting Karnataka from extending its irrigational potential beyond 14.5 lakh hectares would adversely affect the farmers of Kabini delta. Besides, the Tribunal had rendered a ''historical injustice'' to the people of Karnataka by barring the State from taking up any fresh irrigation projects in the Cauvery delta districts, including the most backward Chamarajanagar district. The State could not pursue the Kabini II phase and incomplete projects of Kabini I stage works, he added.

He claimed that the 270 TMC ft of water allotted to Karnataka contributed over 53 per cent of total Cauvery water and the 419 TMC ft of water earmarked for Tamil Nadu contributed only 32 per cent.

Allocation of more water than deserved to Tamil Nadu would mean shortage of water to Hemavathy and Harangi irrigation projects.

UNI