All-party meet on Cauvery remains inconclusive

Bangalore, Feb 7 (UNI) The all-party meeting, convened by Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy to discuss the fallout of the final award of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal, ended inconclusively here today as the full text of the order was not available for study.

Talking to reporters after the meeting, Mr Kumaraswamy said it was decided to hold another meeting shortly. The full copy of the judgement was available only today and it would be made available to the participants within the next few days for them to analyse.

The date of the next all-party meeting would be announced shortly, after the leaders studied the order in detail and come out with suggestions to bale out the State from the present situation, he said.

Mr Kumaraswamy said all the leaders were unanimous in their view that the final award was ''unfair and a gross injustice'' to the State and its farmers and highlighted the defects.

He said the World Kannada Meet, scheduled to be held from Febraury 23 in Belgaum, had been postponed in view of the pain and anguish the farmers were going through.

Leaders from all political parties, Legislators from the Cauvery basin areas and irrigation experts took part in the meeting.

The Tribunal had, on February five, ordered Karnataka to ensure the release of 192 tmcft of water at Biligundlu, the last point of the river in the State, to Tamil Nadu. Allowing the State to use 270 tmcft of water in a year, it gave 419 tmcft of water to Tamil Nadu, 30 tmcft to Kerala and seven tmcft to the Union Territory of Puducherry.

UNI