All-party meet unanimously resolves to oppose Cauvery verdict

Bangalore, Feb 24 (UNI) An all-party meeting, chaired by Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy, today unanimously resolved to reject the final award of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal on sharing of the river waters, about 20 days after the verdict was pronounced.

Briefing newspersons here after the meeting, Mr Kumaraswamy said a resolution was passed unanimously, highlighting the ''injustice'' meted out to the State by the Tribunal in its verdict. The State Government would chalk out its future course of action after consulting legal luminaries and irrigation experts, he added.

Reading out the resolution, he said the State had suffered following the verdict both scientifically and logically. Under the present circumstances, it was not possible to accept the verdict and steps would be initiated without any delay to set right the injustice. It was also resolved to counter the Tamil Nadu Government's moves at the Centre.

The Tribunal had, in its award on February 5, allocated 270 tmc ft of water to Karnataka, 419 tmc ft to Tamil Nadu, 30 tmc ft to Kerala and seven tmc ft to Pondichery out of the total availability of 740 tmc ft under 50 per cent dependability.

The Karnataka Government had made it clear that it would abide by the decisions taken at the all-party meeting.

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