EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

CHENNAI, SEPTEMBER 18: A FEW hours after the Tamil Nadu government decided to move the Supreme Court to press for the early release of Cauvery river water, the Union Ministry of Water Resources announced that it will convene a meeting of the Cauvery River Authority (CRA) on September 22 at New Delhi to discuss the state’s demand for immediate release of water by Karnataka as per the interim award of the Cauvery tribunal.

However, with the water level in the Mettur Reservoir almost reaching the dead storage, the Tamil Nadu government has criticised the meet as coming too late in the day. ‘‘The meeting would serve no useful purpose to mitigate the agony of the Cauvery delta farmers,’’ the state government said in a press release issued here.

Apparently the TN government stands by its decision to take the matter to the apex court. The government’s press release on the CRA meet pointed out that while the state government decision to move the apex court was made public by 11.30 am, it received a fax communication from the Centre around 1.00 pm.

The decision to seek the Supreme Court’s help in the issue was taken at an urgently convened Cabinet meeting this morning. Briefing newspersons later, Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa said that though her government had taken many steps to ensure the timely release of Cauvery water, the response by the Centre and Karnataka government had not been satisfactory.

She also noted that the memorandum submitted by an all party delegation to Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee had evoked no response
at all.