Urge Centre to set up Cauvery Water Management Board: AIADMK to Pondy govt

Puducherry/Chennai: The AIADMK in Puducherry on Saturday urged the Puducherry government to request the Centre to constitute the Cauvery Water Management Board (CWMB) as per the Supreme Court verdict, for the benefit of the riots in Karaikal region in the Union Territory.

Addressing reporters in Puducherry on Saturday the party's legislature wing leader A Anbalagan said the territorial government should join hands with Tamil Nadu and ensure the Apex Court’s direction on the Cauvery river water sharing issue is implemented.

To enable the farmers of Puducherry to get the benefit of the allocation of Cauvery water, the Board should be constituted without any delay, he said.

Earlier, Anbalagan visited the sea port along with the Welfare Minister M Kandasamy to inspect the progress of work to convert it into a satellite port of the Chennai Port Trust to handle container cargo.

Later, he said, "not much progress had been made in providing the necessary infrastructure facilities."

The AIADMK leader said a bypass road should be available for onward movement of the cargo that would be unloaded at the port in Puducherry from Chennai.

"The officials concerned with ensuring the port facility were not acting on line with the speed shown by the government," he alleged.

All the deficiencies should be plugged so that the transaction at the port would take place without hiccups, he added.

The Supreme Court had on Friday directed the Karnataka government to release 177.25 tmcft of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu from its inter-state Biligundlu dam, which was less than the quantum sought by the latter.