Pondicherry CM not to attend CRA meeting

Citing indisposition, Pondicherry Chief Minister N Rangasamy has cancelled his trip to Delhi to attend a crucial Cauvery River Authority meeting convened by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Monday.

Airport sources in Chennai said Rangasamy was scheduled to take the 0640 Indian Airlines flight, but his ticket was cancelled.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa left by a special flight on Sunday night to attend the meeting, being convened at a time when the 'samba' paddy crop in the state is withering due to non-availability of water.

Karnataka had expressed inability to maintain the CRA's earlier order for release of 0.8 tmcft [thousand million cubic feet] of water daily to Tamil Nadu.

The prime minister, while announcing the date for the CRA meeting in Bangalore on January 3, had said both the states faced a distress situation.

Besides Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry, Kerala is the fourth riparian state and member of the CRA.

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