Demand to constitute Cauvery Management Board by June 5

Plan to organise agitation in Cauvery delta districts

A conference on Cauvery organised by the Cauvery Urimai Meetpu Kuzhu in Thanjavur urged the Central Government to form the Cauvery Management Board before June 5, 2014.

A resolution to this effect was adopted at the conference held here on Saturday.

The resolution said that every year water will be released from Mettur dam on the traditional date of June 12 for Kuruvai cultivation. “So it will be appropriate if the Board is constituted before June 5. If the Centre delays constitution of the board, the Kuzhu will organise agitations before Central Government offices in Cauvery delta districts on June 27”, the resolution said.

It also pointed out that already a year has rolled by after the final Award of the Cauvery River Water Disputes Tribunal was gazetted on February 19, 2013. As per the recommendations made in the final Award, the board should have been constituted immediately. Water Regulation Committees should also be constituted, the resolution said.

The conference also said that a sum of Rs. 2,500 per quintal of paddy should be fixed as procurement price. For Sugarcane it should be Rs. 3,500 per tonne. The conference urged both central and state governments to drop the proposed Methane extraction project in the Cauvery delta districts. Besides threatening food security, the project when implemented will pollute environment and turn Cauvery delta into a desert, a resolution adopted in the conference said.

Speaking at the conference, P.Nedumaran, President, Ulaga Thamizhar Peramaippu, called for unity among Tamils to achieve “our rights in the Cauvery issue”. He said that politicians of Tamil Nadu should also unite cutting across party lines to fight for Cauvery water. “We could get justice only because Supreme Court intervened and gave orders seven times”, he said.

Kolathur Mani of Dravidar Viduthalai Kazhagam, P.Maniarasan, Convenor of Cauvery Urimai Meetpu Kuzhu, Thanjai Ramamurthy, senior advocate, Paranthaman, former Superintending Engineer of PWD, also spoke.