Proposal to Form River Board for Management of Cauvery Basin

Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) Chairman Saumitra Kumar Haldar has presented an important proposal to establish a special 'River Board' for the management of the Cauvery basin. According to a report by 'The Hindu', the main objective of this board is to acquire the authority for ownership, operation, and regulation of reservoirs located across the entire Cauvery basin. The primary purpose behind this step is to find a permanent solution to the complex dispute over water sharing between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka that has been ongoing for years.

According to the Chairman, instead of considering political boundaries falling along the course of the river, the Cauvery river should be treated as a single uniform unit. If the entire resources of the river are managed by a single central body, water disputes can be reduced. This River Board will be empowered to take all decisions regarding the use of river water and the management of reservoirs, so that differences between the states can be resolved.

The Cauvery river, historically known as 'Ponni' in the Tamil language, is a major river of South India. After the Godavari and the Krishna, it is considered the third-largest river of the peninsula. The basin area of this river is vast at approximately 81,155 sq km, which is spread across Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, and the Union Territory of Puducherry. This river plays an important role as a source of agriculture and drinking water in South India. This proposal by Saumitra Kumar Haldar points a new direction for the systematic utilization of river resources, and it remains to be seen how the concerned states and the central government will now react to it.