News Headings

N E W S
I N ..D E T A I L

Saturday, August 8, 1998

Riparian states reach accord on
Cauvery water-sharing dispute
Tribune News Service and agencies

NEW DELHI, Aug 7 — A breakthrough was achieved today on the implementation of the contentious interim award of Cauvery water-sharing dispute, with the Chief Ministers of four basin states arriving at a "broad agreement".

After three rounds of talks spread over two days, the Chief Ministers of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Pondicherry had with the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, an agreement was reached ahead of the August 12 deadline set by the Supreme Court for finalising a scheme to implement the interim award of the tribunal. The four-point agreement announced officially, envisages a scheme for giving effect to the interim award of the Cauvery Water Dispute Tribunal and all related subsequent orders.

Under it there shall be an authority which will comprise the Prime Minister and the Chief Ministers of the four states concerned. The authority shall frame rules and regulations for the conduct of its business and under it there shall be a monitoring committee consisting of designated officers of the Central Government and the state governments concerned.

The Chief Ministers of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, Mr M. Karunanidhi and Mr J.H. Patel, respectively, expressed happiness at the agreement.

However, there was no unanimity about the nature, role and functions of the monitoring committee with Karnataka stating that the Committee should only assist the authority. Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry did not accept this position while Kerala reserved its views on the issue, it was officially stated.
To resolve the differences among the states, it was decided to constitute a drafting committee which will look into the powers, duties, functions and role of the monitoring committee.

The drafting committee will function under the chairmanship of the Union Cabinet Secretary and will include the designated officers of the state governments concerned. The first meeting of the committee is scheduled to be held shortly.

The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Mr Karunanidhi thanked the Prime Minister and the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, Mr Jaswant Singh for their efforts to help reach an agreement.

Mr Karunanidhi said he was happy that the 1991 Interim award directing Karnataka to release 205 TMC feet of water to Tamil Nadu would now be implemented under an amicable agreement.

The Karnataka Chief Minister, Mr J.H. Patel when asked if he was happy at the outcome, said any agreement was good in the interest of the nation or the state.

He said Karnataka requested the Prime Minister that the Supreme Court should be requested to direct the tribunal to give its final award at the earliest.

The Kerala Chief Minister, Mr E.K. Naynar, said the agreement would solve 80 per cent of the dispute over sharing of the Cauvery waters.

Opening the meeting yesterday, Mr Vajpayee had called for evolving a national water policy for optimum utilisation of the country’s water resources and hoped to bring forward a draft policy and guidelines for discussion with the states.

The BJP today expressed happiness at the breakthrough on the Cauvery water sharing dispute with the Chief Ministers of the four basin states reaching a "broad agreement" on implementation of the interim order of the tribunal and creation of a river valley authority with Prime Minister as its head ending a seven-year long tussle.

"We are happy that under Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s leadership, a breakthrough has been achieved on the Cauvery water dispute and we hope that before August 12 deadline of the Supreme Court, all four states (Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry and Kerala) would come to an understanding keeping in view local and national interests", party general secretary Venkaiah Naidu told newsmen here.

The accord was reached after nine hours discussions spread over two days between the Prime Minister and the Chief Ministers concerned for finalising a scheme to implement the award.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi said that he had taken into confidence all political parties in the state while agreeing for a resolution of the Cauvery water dispute issue.

Asked whether today’s agreement had the support of AIADMK leader Jayalalitha, Mr Karunanidhi said "I do not know her personal views on the matter but I tried to accommodate the views of all political parties".
To a question whether the agreement had been reached only to placate the BJP’s ally, AIADMK, and not because of his effort, the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister shot back "this may be your opinion".

Addressing a press conference on the agreement, Mr Karunanidhi said it was a victory for the people of both Karnataka and Tamil Nadu and there was no war between the two states.

The DMK chief claimed that it was as a result of his persistent efforts as Chief Minister during the prime ministerial tenures of V.P. Singh, I.K. Gujral and Atal Behari Vajpayee that the scheme for implementation of the interim award had been conceived, framed and now being implemented.

(The agreement reached today assumes significance in the wake of Supreme Court's order last month directing the Centre to finalise the scheme before August 12 and report to the court. The court had also made it clear that it would not brook any further delay. The Centre had sought as many as nine adjournments in connection with this case during the last one year.)

During their interaction with newspersons after the meeting, both Mr Karunanidhi and Mr Patel skirted contentious issues like penal provisions in the original draft scheme including the possible takeover of reservoirs in Karnataka by the Centre if it failed to release water.

Briefing newspersons after the meeting Mr Patel said that Karnataka had said in clear terms that the monitoring committee could not function as a parallel authority and shall work under the Cauvery Basin Authority (CBA) which will be headed by the Prime Minister with the four chief ministers as its members.

The monitoring authority’s role shall be to assist and advise the CBA and collect facts for it, he said.

However, the monitoring authority shall not have independent powers to inspect the dams but would only provide facts to enable the CBA to evolve and take decisions, Mr Patel added.

He said that the state had stated that the decision of the authority shall be governed by consensus .

The Chief Minister said that the state had also agreed to the setting up of a drafting committee headed by Cabinet Secretary which will be assisted by Chief Secretaries of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Pondicherry. This in effect would mean that the drafting would start afresh. There was no time limit fixed for this, he said.

HP - JK action plan on steps to fight terrorism
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Aug 7 — Both Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh today drew up a joint strategy to fight terrorism and prevent a repeat of the Chamba massacre. For the proposed coordinated action plan, the Centre will provide all necessary tactical and infrastructural support.

Better communication and quick movement of security forces in the event of such an eventuality and making, the so far, inaccessible terrain accessible will also be ensured.

The strategy was discussed between the Chief Ministers of the two states, Mr Farooq Abdullah and Mr Prem Kumar Dhumal, who met at Punjab Raj Bhavan. The Union Home Secretary, Mr B.P. Singh, joined the talks between the two. The Chief Ministers were assisted by their respective officers.

There was no formal briefing for the waiting mediapersons, who sweated it out in the open, Nevertheless, Mr Abdullah said after the talks that any attack anywhere on innocent people was, in fact, an "attack on the nation and its integrity". In Pakistan, he said, it were not the politicians but the soldiers who called the shots.

Mr Abdullah said when he recently met some US Senators he pointed to them how day in and day out innocent people, men, women and children, were being killed by mercenaries from across the border. "Pakistan is under the thumb of the USA , its protege. If the Clinton Administration raises its little finger all terrorism being perpetrated in Kashmir and elsewhere in India can be stopped", he told the senators.

Both states have a 160-km-long border in Chamba, Doda and Kathua area. At today's meeting besides state-level coordination emphasis was on "floor coordination" at the district-level in terms of policing and exchange of intelligence information. Micro-level details would be worked out while the broad strategy had been agreed upon with the Centre assuring more paramilitary forces and help by way of communication, mobility and other support.

"Pakistan will never succeed in its nefarious designs", said Mr Abdullah. Pakistan should understand the difficulty with which the people and their emotions were being kept under control by India. "If the situation so warranted we can also cross the line."

Only "soft" targets were being picked up for gunning down, as in the case of Chamba, where the terrain was difficult.

The Himachal Chief Minister, Mr Dhumal, did not say much except that more road network infrastructure was needed to be built. "No comments" was his crisp reply when asked if the Chamba killings were due to laxity on the part of the police and intelligence agencies despite the fact there were reports of such an incident taking place. "We have asked for more security forces", he added.

The Union Home Secretary, Mr B.P. Singh, said he was here to discuss the requirements of the two states and the Centre would do everything possible to contain terrorism. At this Mr Abdullah remarked: "Pakistan will never succeed in its aim. J&K will remain an integral part of India. We are keeping peoples' emotions under control and God willing will not be forced into circumstances to cross the border."

When some reporters referred to the "failure" of talks between the two Prime Ministers at Colombo and the continuing "stalemate" in resuming dialogue at the Foreign Secretary level and that only talks could end terrorism, Mr Abdullah said: "You are mistaken. The talks did not fail."

Among those present at the meeting were J&K's Chief Secretary, Mr Ashok Jaitely, and the Director-General of Police, Mr Gurbachan Jagat. From the CRPF Inspector-General, Mr A.S. Gill, was present from Himachal Pradesh were the Chief Secretary, Mr O.P. Yadav, the Home Secretary, Mrs Asha Swaroop, and the Director-General of Police, Mr B.S. Thakur.