‘Karnataka conspiring to weaken the Cauvery Tribunal’

Chennai, Aug 21:

PMK President and Rajya Sabha MP Dr Anbumani Ramadoss on Thursday alleged that Karnataka was conspiring to weaken the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT) and the Supreme Court judgments on the Cauvery issue and cautioned Tamil Nadu not to get deceived by it.

Referring to Karnataka Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar’s remarks at the Southern Zonal Council (SZC) meeting that time has come to move away from the mindset of “sharing river water” and towards “cooperation over river water” in the Cauvery water dispute, he said this must be viewed as a conspiracy aimed at taking away Tamil Nadu’s rights in the Cauvery dispute and betraying the state.

Tamil Nadu must never fall into this trap laid by Karnataka, he cautioned.

Shivakumar said that “Whatever benefits Karnataka gets from the construction of the Mekedatu dam, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry will also receive the same benefits. In the Cauvery water issue, the time has come to move away from water sharing and towards cooperation over river water”, Anbumani pointed out and said this cannot be accepted.

Stating that Karnataka has lost the right to speak of cooperation in the Cauvery water issue more than 100 years ago, he said in 1910, it attempted to construct the Kannambadi dam in violation of the 1892 agreement on Cauvery water sharing between the then Madras Presidency and Mysore State. Although the British government had instructed that the Kannambadi dam, now known as the Krishnaraja Sagar (KRS) dam, should have a capacity of only 11 TMC, Karnataka initially built it with a capacity of 41.50 TMC and later expanded it to 49.45 TMC.

It also refused to renew the 1924 water-sharing agreement in 1974. Taking advantage of the uncertain circumstances prevailing between 1967 and 1977, it constructed four dams—Hemavathi, Harangi, Kabini and Suvarnavathi—across tributaries of the Cauvery. It opposed the constitution of the CWDT in 1990, opposed the Tribunal’s interim order in 1991 and its final award in 2007, and has continued to refuse to implement the Cauvery Tribunal’s award over the past 35 years. The list of betrayals committed by Karnataka in the Cauvery issue is a very long one.

After committing so many violations, the Karnataka government fought a 29-year legal battle from 1990 to 2018, while Tamil Nadu’s rights over Cauvery water were ultimately upheld, Anbumani, also a former Union Minister said.

Against this backdrop, Karnataka is now saying that there should be no water-sharing arrangement and that there should instead be “water cooperation.” This is nothing but an attempt to lay an obvious trap. After decades of legal battles, the meaning of this proposal is essentially: throw away the judgments obtained from the Tribunal and the Supreme Court regarding Cauvery water sharing, go back to the situation that existed in 1890, and place Tamil Nadu in a position where it has to plead with Karnataka for Cauvery water without any enforceable rights.

If Karnataka had respected the 1892 agreement and refrained from commencing work on the new dam in 1910; if it had renewed the Cauvery water-sharing agreement in 1974; if it had not constructed the four dams in the 1970s; and if it had respected the decisions of the Cauvery Tribunal and the Supreme Court concerning water sharing, then Karnataka’s Chief Minister’s present proposal could have been considered. However, since the Karnataka government has acted in precisely the opposite manner, accepting this proposal now would only harm Tamil Nadu, he said.

If the Tamil Nadu Government accepts the Karnataka Chief Minister’s proposal, whenever Karnataka refuses to release Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu, Tit will no longer be able to approach the courts. Instead, it would have to negotiate with the Karnataka Government to obtain water. At that point, Tamil Nadu would receive only whatever water Karnataka chose to give as an act of charity. This would effectively strip Tamil Nadu of its rights over the Cauvery.

The Tamil Nadu Government must never accept the Karnataka Chief Minister’s proposal. It must not enter into negotiations with the Karnataka Government on this matter at any time.

Instead, regarding Cauvery water sharing and the Mekedatu dam, the Tamil Nadu Government must pursue the cases it has filed before the Supreme Court swiftly and effectively and protect Tamil Nadu’s rights over the waters of the Cauvery.