In a statement issued by A.S. Shankarapandian, General Secretary of Samuga Pothunala Iyakkam (TNSPI), he stated as follows:
The Cauvery Management Board is a body recommended under the final award delivered by the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal in 2007. In its award, the Tribunal said that an independent and empowered Cauvery Management Board was required to implement its decisions. It also recommended that it should be modelled on the Bhakra-Beas Management Board. It stated that the Board should have full powers to supervise dams, regulate water releases and compulsorily enforce the award, and that a Cauvery Water Regulation Committee should be constituted under the Board.
Following the Supreme Court judgment in 2018, the Central Government created a body named the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA), which lacks authority. The Cauvery Water Regulation Committee (CWRC) was created to assist it. This Authority does not have strong powers to enforce its orders. It conducts meetings and only issues directions. But because enforcement is very weak, Tamil Nadu farmers do not receive their rightful share of Cauvery water. As a result, the helpless situation of having to approach the Supreme Court continues.
Karnataka refusing to release the prescribed quantity of water and releasing surplus water during the rainy season, turning Tamil Nadu into a drainage outlet, have become routine. Yet, as the specified Authority remains silent, farmers in Tamil Nadu continue to struggle for water every year, while political parties play political chess over the issue. The Authority therefore appears like a paper knife. With no benefit or usefulness, it remains helpless like a spectator; it has authority only in its name. Overall, it is of no use to the people of Tamil Nadu.
Even now, as Karnataka has not properly released water, the Tamil Nadu Government approached the Supreme Court on the 3rd of this month. With Karnataka also attempting to construct the Mekedatu dam, there is a need to protect this important water source of the people so as to prevent Tamil Nadu from becoming a desert and to uphold the right of regions in the river basin to receive water. Ensuring our justice, rights and livelihood through the present toothless Authority would remain a mirage.
In accordance with the Tribunal’s award, a Cauvery Management Board with strong powers should be constituted to supervise dam operations, allocate stored water, maintain regulation and control, ensure the release of water due from Karnataka to Tamil Nadu, and take action against states that violate the award. Only through this can our democracy, Constitution and federal principles be upheld.
Head Office,
Samuga Pothunala Iyakkam (TNSPI).
