Jaya charges DMK, Centre for neglecting Cauvery

Chennai, Mar 16 (UNI) Declaring that she would go ahead with her one day hunger strike, AIADMK General Secretary J Jayalalithaa today charged the DMK Government in the state and the Congress led UPA Government at the centre with betraying the interest of the state on the Cauvery issue by not initiating any step to notify the final award of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal in the Gazette.

Saying she was unwilling to accept Chief Minister M Karunanidhi's contention that immediate notification of the award in the Gazette was not possible, Ms Jayalalithaa, in a statement here, said she would go ahead with her day's fast here on March 18, pressing for immediate notification of the award in the Gazette.

She said it was more than a month, since the tribunal gave its final award, but the DMK Government had not taken any step to secure water for the farmers in the delta region.

Even after declaring in the all party meeting held on February 19 that the state would move the tribunal to remove the shortcomings, the DMK government, has so far not approached the tribunal, Ms Jayalalithaa said. It has also not filed an appeal in the Supreme court, as suggested by the AIADMK, she said.

Condemning the ''inaction'' of Centre and State Governments in implementing the final award, secured after 16 years of protracted battle and demanding that the Centre immediately issue a Gazette notification, Ms Jayalalithaa said the AIADMK would observe a day's fast in the city on March 18 and elsewhere in the state on March 21.

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