Now Reading: Cauvery panel chief urges river board for entire basin
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Cauvery panel chief urges river board for entire basin
Cauvery Water Management Authority chairperson Saumitra Kumar Haldar has called for a river board to own, operate, manage and regulate reservoirs across the entire Cauvery basin. He argues the river should be…
The Story in Brief
Cauvery Water Management Authority chairperson Saumitra Kumar Haldar has called for a river board to own, operate, manage and regulate reservoirs across the entire Cauvery basin. He argues the river should be treated as a single hydrological unit, not divided by state boundaries, to resolve the long-running dispute between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
The River Boards Act of 1956 empowers the Union government to set up such bodies for inter-state rivers. Yet no board has ever been constituted under this law. Instead, river management organisations like the Damodar Valley Corporation, Tungabhadra Board and Narmada Control Authority were created through executive orders, interstate agreements or tribunal awards.
The Indian Opinion
The CWMA chief’s proposal is sensible on paper, but the history of the River Boards Act shows how easily good ideas get buried. Successive governments have let the law gather dust, hiding behind ‘water is a state subject’. If the Centre is serious about ending the Cauvery feud, it must either activate the 1956 Act or finally table the long-pending River Basin Management Bill. Will it act, or will this call also fade away?
Source: thehindu.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
