NEW DELHI, July 29: As a step towards narrowing of differences between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka on the Cauvery waters dispute, the Centre has revised the draft scheme for the implementation of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal by removing some clauses to which Karnataka had objected.The modified draft, deleting the clause for takeover of reservoirs in Karnataka in case of non-compliance by Karnataka, was placed before a meeting of chief secretaries of the two States and Kerala and Pondicherry convened by Cabinet Secretary Prabhat Kumar today. Indications were that the draft could be revised further.While official sources claimed that progress had been made towards ``reducing differences,'' initial reactions from Tamil Nadu suggested otherwise. The State Chief Secretary, A P Muthusamy, said that Tamil Nadu was opposed to the removal of the clause for takeover of reservoirs.Since the draft was circulated to the chief secretaries only late yesterday night by the Water Resources Ministry, they were notable to give a considered reaction to it at the meeting. Another meeting of the chief secretaries has been fixed for August 4, two days before a meeting of chief ministers of these states convened by the Prime Minister on August 6.At the meeting, both Tamil Nadu and Karnataka stuck to their positions for and against the setting up of the proposed river valley authority. But Tamil Nadu made it clear that it was not happy with the deletion of the provision for takeover of the reservoirs.Karnataka, on the other hand, suggested that it welcomed the fact that this ``draconian'' provision had been deleted from the draft scheme. Its Chief Secretary B K Bhattacharya, addressing reporters, said that the modified draft had taken into account the 1992 and 1995 clarificatory orders of the tribunal and any other orders that may be passed in future.
