Cauvery issue: Deve Gowda urges Modi to set up external agency to study reservoirs in Cauvery basin
Bengaluru (PTI): Former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda on Monday appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to direct the Jal Shakti Ministry to appoint an external agency, independent of the states that are party to the dispute and the union government, to conduct studies of all reservoirs in the Cauvery basin.
He also stressed the need to have an appropriate distress formula applicable to all the states concerned, in such distress conditions.
Noting that due to the failure of the Southwest monsoon (from June to September) this year, there is insufficient storage in the identified/designated four reservoirs of Cauvery basin in Karnataka, he said the state is facing such a grave situation that it is finding it extremely difficult even to cater to the drinking water requirements, let alone for irrigation.
The Janata Dal (S) supremo released a copy of the September 23 letter that he wrote to the Prime Minister on issues of "resolving the ongoing disputes and differences between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu in the matter of releasing Cauvery waters from Karnataka reservoirs to Tamil Nadu", at a press conference here.
Deve Gowda said that the combined storage available as on September 23 in all four reservoirs of Cauvery basin in Karnataka is only 51.10 TMC (thousand million cubic feet) whereas the requirement for standing crops and for drinking water is of 112 TMC.
"The attitude of Tamil Nadu in pressing for additional releases far in excess of 40 TMC already released so far in not only unjust but also against all principles of equity and natural justice, considering the fact that providing drinking water is a fundamental right under the Constitution and it gets the highest priority in the National Water Policy," Gowda wrote in the letter.
Gowda's suggestion is: "To appoint an external agency, independent of the party states and the union government, which has expertise in the field of Integrated Reservoir Operation Studies, for conducting the studies of all the identified/designated reservoirs in Cauvery Basin, immediately".
The agency should place the report of the studies before the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee (CWRC) and Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) for consideration in consultation with the party states, he said.
The agency should be vested with the responsibility of deriving a suitable distress formula taking into consideration all factors like the deficiency in the rainfall, inflows, reservoir levels, storage positions, crop and drinking water requirements, the different monsoons in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, actual utilisation under various categories, and mandatory discharges to be made by Karnataka to Tamil Nadu, he added.
He suggested setting up a five-member committee of experts, who should not be connected to the party states and the union government. The committee should also visit the reservoirs of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu to take stock of the prevailing ground realities.
The committee should report "not only to the CWMA for taking appropriate action but also to the Supreme Court, as a measure of immediate relief", Gowda wrote.
He said the CWMA and the CWRC should make periodical visits to all the identified/designated reservoirs in Cauvery basin, preferably once in 15 days to assess the ground realities, instead of relying only on the records placed before them.
The former PM pointed out that the rainfall received in Karnataka this year in the months of August and September has been the lowest in the last 123 years.
"It is a curse that Karnataka happens to be the upper riparian state in Cauvery basin and is always obliged to fulfill the demands of the downstream state," Gowda said.
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Another North Goa nightclub sealed; Kejriwal says corruption led to fire tragedy
Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.
Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.
Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.
An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.
The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.
A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.
Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."
"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.
"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.
A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.
