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Cauvery: Jaya unhappy with Karnataka's proposal

January 15, 2003 03:52 IST

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Tuesday expressed dissatisfaction with the outcome of Monday's informal talks in Delhi leading to Karnataka promising to release some Cauvery waters to her state.

The chief minister said that the 6tmcft of water offered by Karnataka fell woefully short of the 80tmcft that was supposed to be given to Tamil Nadu under the interim award of the Cauvery Tribunal. The schedule of the release proposed by Karnataka would not serve any purpose for her state, she added.

Karnataka, she pointed out, had promised 1200 cusecs of water over the next 60 days and later decided to release 4500tmcft for the first five days.

Tamil Nadu had sought 4500tmcft for 14 days at a stretch as this alone would help 'two wettings' of the standing samba crop, the chief minister told reporters after signing a Memorandum of Understanding with visiting Malaysian Minister Datto Samivelu on the construction of an 'administrative city' near Chennai.

Samivelu said the Rs 50billion (Rs 5,000crore) project would come upĀ on the East Coast Road outside Chennai, near Mahabalipuram.

The project would take 15 years to complete. Samivelu also said that the Malaysian government also proposes to beautify a part of the Marina beach. An agreement in this regard is expected to be signed later, he said.

More reports from Tamil Nadu

N Sathiya Moorthy in Chennai