Tamil Nadu's consent not required for Mekedatu: Karnataka minister

Outlining the stand of the Karnataka government, Water Resources Minister DK Shivakumar said his State did not have to seek the consent of Tamil Nadu on the matter.

However, he asserted that Karnataka wanted to have a friendly relationship with Tamil Nadu and was ready for a discussion on the points raised by it.

“We don’t want to fight with the neighbouring State and build the project. We are ready to resolve their concerns. Our Chief Minister  called up the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister on Wednesday. I also called up the Water Resources Minister of Tamil Nadu and sought a meeting on the issue,” Shivakumar told reporters here.

He said the State has not violated any order of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal and the Supreme Court. The proposed Mekedatu project does not deplete the committed flow of water to Tamil Nadu.

“We are following the required procedures by approaching the CWC. We are not bound to take concurrence of Tamil Nadu in any manner. It is for the CWC to take a final call on the issue,” he said.

The comments by Shivakumar comes a day after Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami shot off a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seeking his intervention to stop forthwith further processing of the feasibility report.

In the letter, Palaniswami said, “I would like to point out that this action of Karnataka is in violation of the final order of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal and the Supreme Court and also in contravention to the directives of the Government of India to share the plans with the co-basin states for their consent before proposing any new schemes.”

The proposed reservoir will affect the natural flow of Cauvery and will nullify the final order of the tribunal and the Supreme Court, he said.

Stating that the proposed Mekedatu project will reduce the spillage of surplus water to sea, Shivakumar said once the dam is filled to its capacity, the surplus water will find its way to the Bay of Bengal.

“By way of construction of Mekedatu reservoir, it would be possible to minimise the spillage to the sea to the extent possible in good monsoon years.”

The proposed project will also help meet drinking water needs of Bengaluru, which is located 110 km from Mekedatu in Kanakpura taluk, Ramanagara district, he said.

Karnataka has released 314.40 TMC of water as on August 31 to Tamil Nadu from its inter-state Biligundlu dam against the stipulated annual delivery of 177.25 TMC as per the Supreme Court judgement, he added.