Chennai, April 17: Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit on Tuesday said Cauvery issue was close to his heart and has been assured by Union Water Resources Minister Nitin Gadkari that the matter relating to the constitution of a river management board was under process.

Addressing a press conference, he said he had talked to Gadkari on Tuesday who told him that the issue "was under preparation and we are doing it".

He dismissed any politics in the matter, saying he was sure that something positive will be done for the farmers and people of Tamil Nadu.

Purohit said the Cauvery issue was close to his heart and within a week of his taking over as Governor last October he had attended a Governor's conference in Delhi where in a speech he had said that farmers of Delta region in Tamil Nadu were dependent on waters of Cauvery.

"The farmers are agitated over the issue. Hence, it is reiterated that Cauvery management board and Cauvery water regulatory committee are constituted immediately in accordance with the final order of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal."

Tamil Nadu has been rocked by protests of late over the Centre's failure to constitute the Cauvery Management Board within six months of the Supreme Court verdict in February.

Asked about the demand of opposition parties led by DMK leader M.K. Stalin for an appointment with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he said the demand has been forwarded.

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Mumbai (PTI): The rupee depreciated 5 paise to 90.23 against the US dollar in early trade on Monday, driven by rising crude oil prices and an unabated outflow of foreign funds.

According to forex traders, a volatile geopolitical situation and concerns over further US tariffs on Indian exports fueled the selling of Indian stocks by foreign institutional investors, even as traders awaited cues from macroeconomic data to be released this week.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 90.23 and stayed weaker by 5 paise from its previous closing level.

On Friday, the rupee fell 28 paise to close at 90.18 against the US dollar.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which measures the strength of the greenback against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.14 per cent lower at 98.75.

Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading 0.13 per cent higher at USD 63.44 per barrel in futures trade.

On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share benchmark index Sensex declined 356.49 points or 0.43 per cent to 83,219.75, while the Nifty dipped 94.90 points or 0.37 per cent to 25,588.40.

Analysts said several factors like the development related to Venezuela, Iran and US President Donald Trump's possible move towards Greenland are influencing the sentiment worldwide.

Foreign institutional investors offloaded equities worth Rs 3,769.31 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.

The latest weekly data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday showed India's forex reserves dropped by USD 9.809 billion to USD 686.801 billion in the week to January 2. In the previous reporting week, the forex reserves had jumped by USD 3.293 billion to USD 696.61 billion.