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NT Bureau
Chennai, Mar 21:

        Chief Minister M Karunanidhi today ruled out any talks with Karnataka over Cauvery water dispute.

        Addressing presspersons here at the Secretariat today, he said there was no point in holding talks with Karnataka after the final verdict was awarded by the tribunal. He further said the circumstances were also not in favour of any negotiations. When queried over a news item published in a section of the media on Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy stating that talks would be held with Tamilnadu on the Cauvery issue, he denied any such possibility and clarified that Kumaraswamy only talked to him over phone to convey Ugadi wishes.

        In 1992 the interim verdict of the tribunal was in Tamilnadu's favour and hence, there was no need to go for an appeal against this verdict. But the final award has not met the expectations of the Tamilnadu government, he said. So, it has been decided at the all party meeting to go for an appeal against the award, he said.

        Karunanidhi also produced the letter written by Kumaraswamy yesterday to convey Telugu New Year greetings. He pointed out that after the amendment to the Inter-State Water Disputes Act, the final award of the tribunal could not be challenged in any court of law, including the Supreme Court, once it was notified in the Central gazette. This was the reason for the delay in the notification of the award in the gazette, he said.

        An MoU has been signed to set up three major industrial projects at Thirukuvalai in Nagapattinam district. A new port would be set up at Vettaikaraniruppu for importing lignite which would be used for a 2,000 MW power station at Thirukuvalai. Another port at Nagapattinam would be set up for catering to the needs of large industrial clusters proposed at Thirupoondi, Ettukudi and Thirukuvalai. 'All the three projects would come up an investment of Rs 10,000 crore which would provide direct employment for 15,000 local people,' the Chief Minister said.

        When asked for his opinion on PMK MLAs' demand for resignation of Agriculture Minister Veerapandi Arumugam, the Chief Minister refused to comment on it. On the suggestion made by agriculture scientist M S Swaminathan for setting up of agriculture-based Special Economic Zones (SEZ), he said it was a good idea, but it was equally important to promote industries-based SEZs in the country. 'When water is a major problem for agriculture, inter-linking of rivers will be ideal solution to overcome this problem,' he said.