TN minister seeks Delhi’s mediation in dam dispute

Chennai/Bengaluru: Tamil Nadu’s water resources minister S Duraimurugan flew to Delhi on Monday to meet union minister for Jal Shakti, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, a day after the state’s chief minister MK Stalin responded to his Karnataka counterpart BS Yediyurappa urging him to drop the Mekedatu project

Chennai/Bengaluru: Tamil Nadu’s water resources minister S Duraimurugan flew to Delhi on Monday to meet union minister for Jal Shakti, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, a day after the state’s chief minister MK Stalin responded to his Karnataka counterpart BS Yediyurappa urging him to drop the Mekedatu project.

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“I am going to speak about Mekedatu and river Markandeya. We will discuss several problems related to Tamil Nadu,” Duraimurugan said about his meeting scheduled on Tuesday afternoon. The Mekedatu issue has evoked emotions on both sides of the border as it is an extension of the century-old Cauvery river water dispute that has defined generations in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

Yediyurappa on July 3 made a fresh bid to resolve the issue on construction of the reservoir in Mekedatu across the Cauvery river by proposing bilateral talks with Stalin. But Stalin has stuck to the stance of his predecessors that the project would affect the state’s agrarian community and affect its water resources. He didn’t address the call for a meeting.

At different points, the Mekedatu project often came to the fore only to be relegated to the background as it went through several litigations. The long-winding legal battles have been used as a political currency in the past as well as an active tool to deflect attention away from other issues. This time with a new chief minister at the helm, the main arguments over the project have resurfaced.

It’s one of those few issues where regional parties concur with each other to take the side of their respective states. While every elected Karnataka chief minister has been keen to roll out the project, Tamil Nadu’s chief ministers have objected. Delegations from both states have over the years met Prime Ministers in Delhi with Tamil Nadu urging the union government to stop Karnataka while they in turn asked for the Centre’s cooperation.

Tamil Nadu petition filed in 2018 challenging the project is still pending in the Supreme Court. The suit says that the proposed projected violates the final order of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal, and that the construction would impound and divert the flows coming in Cauvery in the intermediate catchment below the Krishnaraja Sagar and Kabini reservoirs, and Billigundulu in the common border of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

Stalin on Monday in his letter said that Karnataka’s objective to construct “such a major reservoir”, which is too far away from Bengaluru to meet its drinking “does not sound valid”.

In a letter to Stalin on Saturday, Yediyurappa said that two projects proposed by the Tamil Nadu government--Kundah pumped storage Hydro-electric project and Silahalla pumped storage Hydro-electric project in Bhavani Sub-basin of Cauvery basin--was done without consulting Karnataka, making a veiled attempt to barter consensus on projects on either side of the border. But Stalin said that it wasn’t appropriate to compare them.

Basavaraj Bommai, Karnataka’s minister for home, law and parliamentary affairs on Monday said that Tamil Nadu continues to object to all projects since Krishna Raja Sagara (Dam).

“Our intention is that their government has changed. This project is for drinking water and generating power and would be helpful in distributing water during distress years. This is what we have been trying to communicate to them but the Chief minister’s (Stalin’s) “tone and tenor” is not correct,” he said. Bommai said that Karnataka will continue to fight the legal battle in the Supreme Court and complete the project.

The state unit of the Congress party, which is in alliance with the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) in Tamil Nadu, said there was no need to write a letter to Stalin.

“Look. Yediyurappa writing a letter to Tamil Nadu chief minister is wrong. If he writes to Tamil Nadu chief minister and asks him to agree, will he do that? There is no need to ask them. The court has not said it nor has the tribunal. We are doing it on our part. According to the tribunal order, they have the right only to ask for the water that has been alloted to them but to make a balancing reservoir here is something we do not need to ask them to make,” Siddaramaiah, former chief minister and leader of the opposition said on Monday.

To be sure, Karnataka has already received a nod in favour of the project and the Tamil Nadu’s Kundah pumped storage too has been accorded environmental clearance in February this year while the Sillahalla project is under consideration.

The Siddaramaiah-led Congress government, soon after it came to power in 2013, announced the construction of the project which would cost ₹5912 crore to help use the excess water to quench the thirst of surrounding districts, including Bengaluru. Then Tamil Nadu chief minister, (now late) J Jayalalitha wrote to the union government not to give the project an environment clearance as it would disrupt the natural flow of water from the upper riparian state.

The DMK says they wouldn’t budge either. “This is against the principles of federalism where an upper riparian state cannot dictate terms,” says advocate and DMK spokesperson, A Saravanan. “They (Karnataka) are raking up the issue now because the BJP is fragmented so they want to divert attention by putting up a united front on the issue.”