Cauvery row: Central team holds talks with TN govt

Chennai, Oct 4: Amid protests by farmers in Karnataka over sharing of Cauvery River water, a Central team today held discussions with the Tamil Nadu government and said it would submit a report to the Centre in four days.

A team led by Union Water Resources Secretary DV Singh held discussions with Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary Debendranath Sarangi and others on issues regarding reservoir levels and status of standing crops dependent on Cauvery water. Singh later told reporters that the team will visit the Cauvery delta area and would submit its report to the Central government in about four days.

The team is also scheduled to visit Karnataka as part of its two-day programme. The team's visit comes against the backdrop of heightened protests by farmers' outfits in Karnataka who have been protesting over the last four days against release of 9000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu. The Karnataka government began releasing water after the Supreme Court asked it to abide by the Sept 19 directive of the Cauvery River Authority headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, till Oct 15.

Tamil Nadu had demanded 2 tmcft under the distress sharing formula following deficient rainfall even as the CRA had awarded 9000 cusecs. Security has beefed up on the inter-state border and traffic movement has been disrupted following the protests.

PTI