E-Paper
Congress to undertake 100 km padayatra over Mekedatu project
“The padayatra will be over 100 km from Mekedatu to Bengaluru,” DK Shivakumar, the president of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) said on Sunday.
The Congress on Sunday said it would undertake a padayatra in the first or second week of December to pile pressure on the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the state and Centre to start the contentious Mekedatu project at the earliest.
“The padayatra will be over 100 km from Mekedatu to Bengaluru,” DK Shivakumar, the president of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) said on Sunday.
“We can start the work here and there is no hurdle from the Supreme Court. We just need one environmental clearance from the centre,” Shivakumar said.
The statements come at a time when the project has heightened tensions in the two south Indian states -- Tamil Nadu and Karnataka -- and threatening to reignite passion over the contentious project over River Cauvery.
The Siddaramaiah-led Congress government, soon after it came to power in 2013, announced the construction of the project which would cost ₹5,912 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 Basavaraj Bommai-led government too has expressed its intent to move forward with the project but is yet to secure requisite clearances from the union government which Shivakumar said displayed “lack of political will”.
Mekedatu, which literally means Goat’s crossing in English, is situated around 100 km from Bengaluru in Karnataka’s Ramanagara district.
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, two of India’s most industrious and progressive states.
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 both sides of the border and irrespective of the party in power.
The Cauvery river basin originates in Karnataka and flows through Tamil Nadu and Puducherry before it enters the Bay of Bengal. Of the total catchment area of 81,155 square kilometers, 34,273 kilometers is in Karnataka, 44,016 square km in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry and about 2,866 sq kms in Kerala.
Karnataka has maintained that the Mekedatu balancing reservoir-cum-drinking water project is to generate 400 MW of power and additionally utilise 4.75 tmcft of water for drinking and domestic needs in the state and particularly Bengaluru.
