HDK seeks early nod for Mekedatu

Kumaraswamy had only a few days ago expressed apprehensions over Tamil Nadu’s attempts to stop Karnataka from going ahead with its Mekedatu project. This comes in the backdrop of the Tamil Nadu Assembly last year adopting a resolution unanimously urging the Centre to rescind the permission granted to Karnataka for a detailed project report on the Mekedatu Balancing Reservoir and Drinking Water Project – proposed across the Cauvery in Karnataka’s Ramanagaram district with its tail in Tamil Nadu.

The Karnataka CM on Saturday also asked the Centre to notify orders issued by both the tribunals on usage of its share of water from the Mahadayi and Krishna rivers.

“In the meeting, the Union minister has assured that a gazette notification on Mahadayi and Krishna river water will be issued after discussion with the state governments concerned,” an official statement read.

The Krishna River Water Disputes Tribunal-II has allocated 166 tmc (thousand million cubic feet) of water to the State for irrigation and other purposes, while the Mahadayi River Water Disputes Tribunal has allocated 13.2 tmc of water to Karnataka.

Kumaraswamy said the State has not been able to use the allocated Krishna water in the absence of a gazette notification.

Talking about the Mekedatu project, the Karnataka CM said that there was no need to seek consent from Tamil Nadu for the proposed project.

The Karnataka government has already submitted a detailed project report (DPR) on Mekedatu project to the Central Water Commission.

It comes in the wake of the Karnataka government failing to release water to TN despite the Cauvery Water Management Authority having ordered it to release 9.19 tmcft of water for the month of June from the Biligundlu reservoir on May 28.