Centre firm on implementing Cauvery order

The Centre on Tuesday told Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Pondicherry in unambiguous terms that it would go ahead and notify the setting up of an authority for implementing the Cauvery River Water Disputes Tribunal's interim order.

Union Water Resources Minister Sis Ram Ola, however, assured that the four states's irrigation ministers's views -- expressed at Tuesday's meeting in New Delhi -- would be taken into account in this regard.

He said the Centre’s initiative was in response to the Supreme Court order of April 7, 1997, ruling that the tribunal was competent to give such an interim order. ''We told the states that the Centre was duty-bound to carry out the interim order under Section 6A of the Inter State Water Disputes Act 1956.''

The draft scheme, prepared on the basis of the interim order, envisages setting up of a Cauvery Water Authority to supervise the sharing of the river's water by the four claimant states.

Opposing the move, Karnataka said a coordination committee involving the four states should be created.

Tamil Nadu, on the other hand, insisted the authority should be created.

UNI