TN parties slam move on CWMA

As per the Government of India (allocation of business) 1961, all river boards including Cauvery, Godavari River Management Board and Krishna River Management Board brought under the Department of Water Resources River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation will be brought under the ministry of Jal Shakthi.

Pointing out that the CWMA was formulated based on the Supreme Court’s direction to help riparian states, the Centre in June 2018 constituted CWMA to address the dispute over sharing of river water among Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Puducherry. The formation of other river management boards and the CWMA is completely different and merging all the water bodies under the union government is a great injustice to Tamil Nadu, Dhinakaran said.

DMK, who have more than 50 MPs in both houses of Parliament and the ruling AIADMK should exert pressure on the Centre against the move. “Bringing the CWMA under a ministry is tantamount and a betrayal to Tamil Nadu. This will take the issue back to where it began due to interstate water disputes,” stated the RK Nagar MLA.

Meanwhile, PR Pandian, President of Tamil Nadu All Farmers Organisations Committee said that the Centre’s decision seems aimed at helping the Karnataka Government.