Karnataka, Tamil Nadu not India, Pakistan: HD Kumaraswamy

Talking to reporters at the airport, Kumaraswamy, who arrived here to call on 111-year-old Siddaganga seer,  who was airlifted from Bengaluru and admitted at the Dr Rela  Institute and Medical Centre here for further management of his liver and bile-duct infections, said the proposed reservoir was only to save the surplus Cauvery water from being letting into the sea.

Stating that the Cauvery row between the two states has been on for 125 years, Kumaraswamy said “We want to construct the dam only to save the surplus water.”

He also promised that not even a single drop of water, to be stored in Mekedatu, would be used for irrigation.

Observing that Karnataka has been placing the demand for the dam at Mekedatu for the last 30 years, he said because of the absence of a dam, the waters were being flowing into the sea.

The Tamil Nadu government and farmers should cooperate in the construction of a new dam at Mekedatu as it would only help them, he said.