Jayalalithaa renews call for Cauvery River Authority meet

Chennai, Aug 23 (IANS) Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa Thursday renewed her request to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to convene a meeting of the Cauvery River Authority (CRA) and advise Karnataka to release water in the Cauvery basin for irrigation.

In a letter to the prime minister, Jayalalithaa referred to her earlier letter of May 15 and urged him to convene a CRA meeting on issues relating to sharing of the river waters between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. "My request is yet to be acceded to," she noted.

The chief minister said the Supreme Court Aug 13 sought the views of the central government on convening a meeting of the CRA while hearing a petition filed by Tamil Nadu.

The prime minister as the chairperson of the CRA, Jayalalithaa said, should convene a CRA meeting and adopt a distress sharing formula as a situation of distress has now arisen in Tamil Nadu.