Karnataka to challenge formation of Cauvery Authority in SC
Bengaluru, June 30: A miffed Karnataka would challenge the setting up of the Cauvery River Management Authority (CRMA) and Cauvery Water Regulation Committee (CWRC) by the Centre in the Supreme Court as they were formed without consulting the state, a senior minister said on Saturday.
"As the CWMA and CWRC were constituted without considering our state's views, we have decided to challenge their notification in the Supreme Court," Minister for Medium and Major Irrigation D.K. Shivakumar told reporters here after an all-party meeting on the politically sensitive issue.
The Union Water Resources Ministry on June 1 notified the Authority and the Committee as part of the scheme the apex court directed on May 18 for implementing the 2007 Cauvery Water Tribunal Award.
Though the Tribunal awarded the quantum of the river water to be shared among the four southern states -- Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry, the top court modified it when Karnataka and Tamil Nadu legally challenged it over the last decade.
The apex court on February 16 increased Karnataka's share by 14.75 tmc (thousand million cubic) feet to 284.75 from 270 tmc and lowered Tamil Nadu's share to 404.25 tmc from 419 tmc the Tribunal awarded.
The court, however, upheld the Tribunal's award of 30 tmc to Kerala and 7 tmc to Puducherry.
The state's share was increased ostensibly to meet the increasing drinking water needs of its bustling capital Bengaluru, which acquired a global status and though located outside the Cauvery river basin.
The 802 km-long rain-fed Cauvery basin has 740 tmc water in a normal year.
"All the parties have agreed to raise the issue in Parliament, as the CWMA and CWRC have been set up without discussion in the people's court on them or the scheme, which is against the interests of our state," asserted Shivakumar.
Water Resources Principal Secretary Rakesh Singh and Cauvery Neeravari Nigam Ltd Managing Director H.L. Prasanna are the state's representatives on the CWMA and CWRC.
The Central Water Commission Chairman Masood Hussain heads the CWMA, while its Irrigation Management Organisation Chief Engineer Navin Kumar is Chairman of the CWRC and also member of the Authority.
The technical panel, which will be based in Bengaluru, is mandated to ensure Karnataka releases 177.25 tmc feet of the river water to Tamil Nadu in a normal year as per the Tribunal award and directed by the apex court.
Endorsing Kumar's views, Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy told reporters the JD-S-Congress coalition government had decided to protest against the formation of the Cauvery Authority and the Committee without consulting the state by the central government.
"We are looking at filing a review petition in the Supreme Court against the setting up of the CWMA and CWRC," reiterated Kumaraswamy.
The Chief Minister on June 18 also urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi not to operate the Authority and the Committee till the issues related to cropping pattern were addressed as they were part of the court-directed scheme.
"Our legal team, headed by eminent counsel Fali Nariman will decide on our appeal through a review petition to be filed in the Supreme Court," added Shivakumar.
Opposition BJP leader in the hung assembly B.S. Yeddyurappa said all the political parties were united on the Cauvery issue.
"We have decided to discuss the Cauvery issue in the monsoon session of Parliament (beginning from July 18) to get justice for the farmers in the river basin," Yeddyurappa told reporters.
Central ministers from the southern state D.V. Sadananda Gowda and Anant Kumar, Congress Lok Sabha member M. Veerappa Moily, BJP's Lok Sabha member from Mysuru Pratap Simha and newly elected legislators from the river basin region participated in the two-hour long meeting at the state's secretariat in the city centre.
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Israel launches first airstrike on Lebanon since ceasefire, accusing Hezbollah of breaching truce
Beirut, Nov 28: The Israeli military on Thursday said its warplanes fired on southern Lebanon after detecting Hezbollah activity at a rocket storage facility, the first Israeli airstrike a day after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took hold.
There was no immediate word on casualties from Israel's aerial attack, which came hours after the Israeli military said it fired on people trying to return to certain areas in southern Lebanon. Israel said they were violating the ceasefire agreement, without providing details. Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said two people were wounded.
The back-to-back incidents stirred unease about the agreement, brokered by the United States and France, which includes an initial two-month ceasefire in which Hezbollah members are to withdraw north of the Litani River and Israeli forces are to return to their side of the border. The buffer zone would be patrolled by Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers.
On Thursday, the second day of a ceasefire after more than a year of bloody conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, Lebanon's state news agency reported that Israeli fire targeted civilians in Markaba, close to the border, without providing further details. Israel said it fired artillery in three other locations near the border. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
An Associated Press reporter in northern Israel near the border heard Israeli drones buzzing overhead and the sound of artillery strikes from the Lebanese side.
The Israeli military said in a statement that “several suspects were identified arriving with vehicles to a number of areas in southern Lebanon, breaching the conditions of the ceasefire.” It said troops “opened fire toward them” and would “actively enforce violations of the ceasefire agreement.”
Israeli officials have said forces will be withdrawn gradually as it ensures that the agreement is being enforced. Israel has warned people not to return to areas where troops are deployed, and says it reserves the right to strike Hezbollah if it violates the terms of the truce.
A Lebanese military official said Lebanese troops would gradually deploy in the south as Israeli troops withdraw. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media.
The ceasefire agreement announced late Tuesday ended 14 months of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah that began a day after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023 attack out of Gaza, when the Lebanese Hezbollah group began firing rockets, drones and missiles in solidarity.
Israel retaliated with airstrikes, and the conflict steadily intensified for nearly a year before boiling over into all-out war in mid-September. The war in Gaza is still raging with no end in sight.
More than 3,760 people were killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon during the conflict, many of them civilians, according to Lebanese health officials. The fighting killed more than 70 people in Israel — over half of them civilians — as well as dozens of Israeli soldiers fighting in southern Lebanon.
Some 1.2 million people were displaced in Lebanon, and thousands began streaming back to their homes on Wednesday despite warnings from the Lebanese military and the Israeli army to stay out of certain areas. Some 50,000 people were displaced on the Israeli side, but few have returned and the communities near the northern border are still largely deserted.
In Menara, an Israeli community on the border with views into Lebanon, around three quarters of homes are damaged, some with collapsed roofs and burnt-out interiors. A few residents could be seen gathering their belongings on Thursday before leaving again.
