New Delhi:
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Saturday said he was disappointed by the Supreme Court’s verdict on Cauvery water dispute.
The apex court on Friday reduced Tamil Nadu’s water share in Cauvery River to 177.25 TMC and awarded an additional 14.75 TMC to Karnataka.
Reacting to the top court’s verdict, CM Palaniswami said, “The Cauvery Verdict giving TN 177.25 TMC of water has come as a disappointment to us.”
The Chief Minister, however, welcomed Supreme Court’s decision of constituting a Cauvery Tribunal within six months and appreciated its remark that no state can claim ownership of a river.
“At the same time the constitution of Cauvery tribunal within 6 weeks & when the court said that rivers can't be claimed by a single state is welcomed by us,” the Chief Minister said.
Earlier on Friday, the apex court ruled that that water is a "national resource" and no single state can claim exclusive ownership to a river.
The top court in its ruling said that 20 TMC of groundwater in Tamil Nadu had not been accounted for and needed to be seen.
Cauvery, a 765-km long river is called the Ganga of South and originates in Karnataka’s Kodagu district and flows into Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Puducherry.
SC made it clear that the increase in the share of Cauvery water for Karnataka has been done keeping in view the fact that there is an increased demand of drinking water by Bengaluru & also for many industrial activities.
“Since this is an inter-state dispute, I don’t want to say that it’s a win for one state and loss for another,” Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah said.
“Verdict is not fully in accordance with our plea but we have got some relief,” he added.
