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Vajpayee directs Karnataka to abide by CRA decision

A breakthrough in the Cauvery tangle eluded on Saturday night with Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee sternly asking Karnataka to release water to Tamil Nadu as per the Cauvery River Authority decision, but Karnataka virtually pleading its inability.

As the water row escalated between the two states, Vajpayee is understood to have given a tough message to Karnataka Chief Minister S M Krishna not to cite law and order problems in implementing the September eight decision of the CRA to release 9,000 cusecs of water daily during September-October to Tamil Nadu.

Vajpayee also directed that the Cauvery River Monitoring Committee headed by the Union water resources secretary should visit all the Cauvery reservoirs in Karnataka to verify the levels and report back to the CRA within three days. The CRA would meet later.

But a beleaguered Krishna was non-committal after an hour-long meeting saying implementation of the CRA direction depended on two factors -- water flows and level of the reservoirs -- inherent in the Authority's order.

On a hectic day on the Cauvery front, Vajpayee received the all-party delegations from both states headed by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa and her counterpart Krishna respectively.

Tamil Nadu demanded that the Centre direct Karnataka to immediately release water as given in the CRA direction and implement an all-party decision that Centre take over all dams on Cauvery in Karnataka to ensure release of water to Tamil Nadu as per the Supreme Court and the Authority decision.

Sources said the prime minister told both the chief ministers that the question of law and order problems need not be brought in and it was the responsibility of the state governments.

This, he told them, could not be the reason for not adhering to the CRA decision and the distress should be shared in the interest of the nation, the sources said adding that as political leaders they should convince the people.

Krishna remained non-committal on the directive of the prime minister even though Union Water Resources Minister Arjun Charan Sethi told reporters earlier that Karnataka has agreed to release water to Tamil Nadu.

In a memorandum to the prime minister, Karnataka said that it would be put to great stress in ensuring release of 9,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu per day.

Stating that it made every sincere effort to implement the order of the Supreme Court as well as the decision of the CRA, it urged the prime minister to appreciate its predicament and help it in saving its standing crops and conserving drinking water.

The Tamil Nadu delegation, which met the prime minister earlier, told him that 'citing a stage-managed law and order problem cannot be the basis for flouting the orders of the Supreme Court or the CRA'.

"The fact that the Chief Minister of Karnataka is pleading helplessness goes to show that this entire alleged law and situation in Karnataka is state-sponsored and all these agitations have the blessings of the Karnataka government," the delegation, led by Jayalalithaa, said.

PTI

Cauvery Water Dispute: The Complete Coverage

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