Rediff
With UNI inputs

Bangalore, Feb 5: The Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal has announced its final verdict on Monday. It has given 419 thousand million cubic feet of water to Tamil Nadu, 270 to Karnataka, 70 to Pondicherry and 30 to Kerala.

The dispute over water sharing between the states dates back nearly 16 years. There has been constant friction between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu on the Cauvery water issue, which assumes sharp political tones quite often and is usually resolved by the bounty of monsoons.

The Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation had, earlier, suspended all its inter-state bus services to Karnataka.

Sources said the decision was taken as a precautionary measure to avoid any untoward incident. Presently, the buses are plying till the Karnataka border, the sources added.

Meanwhile, security had been strengthened at the state border and at the Mettur Reservoir to avert any untoward incident, police said.

Constituted on June 2, 1990, the Tribunal gave its interim award on June 25, 1991, directing Karnataka to release 205 tmcft of water every year to Tamil Nadu.

The Tribunal, comprising Chairman Justice N P Singh and members N S Rao and Sudhir Narain, reserved its verdict on July 27 last at the conclusion of marathon proceedings on various aspects of the dispute, namely allocation of water as per crop requirements, the cropping pattern and the mechanism for implementation of the final award.