E-Paper
TN moves SC against Mekedatu discussion at CWMA meeting
In a petition, the state government said the CWMA does not have powers to discuss construction of the Mekedatu Balancing Reservoir-cum-Drinking Water Project across Cauvery river.
The Tamil Nadu government on Tuesday moved the Supreme Court seeking a direction that the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) should not take up Karnataka’s Mekedatu project for discussion at its meeting in Delhi on June 17.
In a petition, the state government said the CWMA does not have powers to discuss construction of the Mekedatu Balancing Reservoir-cum-Drinking Water Project across Cauvery river. The government filed the petition after the CWMA included “discussions on Mekedatu project DPR” in the agenda for its 16th meeting in Delhi.
“We have moved the Supreme Court today (June 7) seeking a direction to the CWMA that it should not allow discussion on Mekedatu which is beyond its brief… At the 16th meeting (of CWMA scheduled for June 17), the Tamil Nadu representative will strongly oppose this and point out that this subject is beyond the jurisdiction of the CWMA,” Tamil Nadu’s water resources minister Durai Murugan said in a statement on Tuesday.
“When the Karnataka government allotted ₹1,000 crore for the project, the Tamil Nadu assembly passed a unanimous resolution opposing the move and sent it to the central government,” Murugan said. He said the state government has told the central government not to accord any sanction for construction of Mekedatu.
Chief minister MK Stalin has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi during their meetings for the project to be dropped.
Minister Murugan said the Tamil Nadu government has written to the CWMA to remove the Mekedatu issue from the agenda as the agency has “no powers to discuss the issue.” The minister also gave assurance that the DMK government will ensure that the rights of the farmers in the Cauvery Delta region are protected.
A few days ago, the DMK’s ally Congress had announced that they would protest against Karnataka’s decision to continue with the Mekedatu project.
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.
The dispute over the project is an extension of the decades-long problems between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka over sharing of water from the Cauvery river. The Cauvery river basin originates in Karnataka and irrigates the rice bowls of Tamil Nadu.
Tamil Nadu has contended that this project will affect its agrarian community, it will impound and divert uncontrolled flows from the intermediate catchment below the Krishnaraja Sagar and Kabini reservoirs, and Billigundulu which is a common border of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
As the lower riparian state, Tamil Nadu also argues that it’s against federalist principles for Karnataka, the upper riparian state, to go ahead without its agreement. Karnataka is firm that they will complete the project within a legal framework. Though the project was conceived before the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, Karnataka invited expressions of interest for the project in 2014. The cost of the project now has escalated to ₹9,000 crore.
Karnataka justifies that the project will not affect the interest of Tamil Nadu’s farmers and that they will regulate flow as prescribed in orders by the Tribunal and the Supreme Court.
