Cauvery award: All-party meet in TN on Feb 19

Chennai, Feb 14: The Tamil Nadu Government has convened an all-party meeting on February 19 to discuss the final award of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal.

Chief Minister M Karunanidhi would preside over the meeting to be held at Secretariat here, an official release said today.

Various political parties in Tamil Nadu, mainly the ruling DMK's ally PMK, had been urging the Government to immediately convene the all-party meeting to analyse the pros and cons of the Tribunal's award.

Earlier, Mr Karunanidhi maintained the meeting could be convened only after due consideration.''If the meeting resulted in anything fruitful, it is good. It should not lead to unlikable consequences,'' he had said.

In its much-awaited award, delivered on February 5, the Tribunal allotted 419 tmc ft (as against its demand of 562 tmcft) of Cauvery River water to Tamil Nadu, 270 tmcft (as against its demand of 465 tmc ft) to Karnataka, 30 tmcft to Kerala and seven tmcft to Puducherry.

However, Karnataka was required to release only 192 tmcft of water from Bilingundlu.

The Tribunal's award had triggered a fiery debate in Tamil Nadu with political parties differing in their views on the issue.

While Mr Karunanidhi had said the award had offered relief and justice had been done, his bete noir and AIADMK General Secretary J Jayalalithaa claimed the quauntum of water allocated for Tamil Nadu in the final award was lower than the interim award.

PMK Founder-Leader S Ramadoss had also described the Tribunal's final award as disappointing.

UNI

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