No nod for Mekedatu yet, move Supreme Court: PMK president Anbumani

CHENNAI: PMK president Anbumani Ramadoss on Friday urged the State government to immediately move the Supreme Court to secure Cauvery water from Karnataka, while citing the Centre's latest clarification that the proposed Mekedatu project has not yet secured key statutory approvals.

Speaking to reporters at the Chennai airport, Anbumani claimed that the Mettur reservoir had virtually run dry while Karnataka still had 67 tmc ft of water in its reservoirs. He said the State government should seek Supreme Court directions to ensure that Karnataka releases Tamil Nadu's due share of Cauvery water, rather than pursuing backchannel talks on the Mekedatu.

Referring to Chief Minister Vijay's proposed visit to Karnataka, Anbumani said the PMK had already advised against it. Instead, he urged the State government to convene an all-party meeting, take MPs and MLAs to New Delhi, and press Prime Minister Narendra Modi to intervene. There was no need for "secret negotiations" on such a sensitive interstate issue, he added.

Meanwhile, in a written reply to an unstarred question raised by Anbumani in the Rajya Sabha, Union Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Kirti Vardhan Singh said the proposed Mekedatu Balancing Reservoir Project has not been granted Terms of Reference (ToR) for environmental clearance as its Detailed Project Report (DPR) is yet to be finalised by the Ministry of Jal Shakti and approved by the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA).

The minister said Karnataka submitted its proposal seeking ToR for environmental clearance on June 20, 2019, which was considered by the Expert Appraisal Committee on July 19, 2019. However, after consultations with the Ministry of Jal Shakti, the Environment Ministry decided that since the project involves inter-state issues, the ToR can be issued only after the DPR is finalised by the Ministry of Jal Shakti and approved by the CWMA.

"The concurrence of the Ministry of Jal Shakti and the Cauvery Water Management Authority on the DPR is still awaited," the minister said, adding that no proposal seeking forest clearance under the Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Adhiniyam, 1980 is currently under consideration.

Anbumani had sought details on whether the Centre had received proposals for environmental and forest clearances, whether the project's impact on the Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary, biodiversity, elephant corridors and downstream ecology had been assessed, and whether an independent cumulative Environmental Impact Assessment had been conducted.

The latest reply follows an earlier response from the Union Ministry of Jal Shakti stating that Karnataka's proposal for the Mekedatu project has not yet been approved by the CWMA and that the DPR remains under examination.