Jaya demands notification of Tribunal Award

Chennai, Mar 2 (UNI) AIADMK Supremo J Jayalalithaa today urged the Centre to notify the final award of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal in the official Gazette and take steps for its implementation, pending disposal of review petitions filed by States concerned.

In a memorandum to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh submitted by the MPs of AIADMK and its ally MDMK, she said the Centre should act immediately to alleviate the sufferings of the farmers in the Cauvery River Basin areas of Tamil Nadu.

''It is for the Centre to see to it that the award is implemented even during the clarification or appeal preferred by an State in respect of the award, in as much as till it is varied or modified or confirmed either by the Tribunal itself or by the Supreme C urt, the award can be implemented to benefit the Cauvery River Basin farmers'', she added.

Stating that the farmers in the basin areas have sufferred heavily for the last 34 years due to highhanded act of Karnataka and the non-cooperation of the Centre in not respecting the interim award of the tribunal, she said the Centre should implement the final award and alleviate the miseries and agonies of the farmers.

''The Cauvery basin farmers of Tamil Nadu should receive their due share of the water in terms of the Award right from this monsoon period starting from June 2007 onwards'', Ms Jayalalithaa, who is also the leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly, said.

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