Release June, July quota to TN, CWMA tells K’taka

At the 12th meeting of CWMA, which was conducted through video conference facility, State PWD Additional Chief Secretary Dr Sandeep Saxena and other top officials from TN government participated. The state officials urged the CWMA to direct Karnataka to release 9.19 tmcft for June and 31.24 tmcft for July as per the Supreme Court orders. Following this, the meeting directed Karnataka to release waters as per the Apex Court orders. In the meeting, Tamil Nadu officials referred to the recent statement of Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa regarding the construction of a dam at Mekedatu and the opposition raised by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin. Officials pointed out that as a case against the construction was pending in the Supreme Court, Karnataka should be ordered not to take any step with regard to the proposed dam at Mekedatu.

Tamil Nadu also insisted that any attempt to construct the dam should be stopped and permission should not be given to Karnataka to take up any preliminary works in this regard, an official release said. Since the matter was pending before the Supreme Court, any discussion on the Mekedatu issue should be avoided at the meeting, following which the issue was not taken up. At the meeting it was also decided to hold discussions at a later date on the Salem-Sarbanga water project and the Cauvery-Gundaru river linking project. It may be recalled Tamil Nadu has been consistently opposing the Karnataka government’s move to construct the Mekedatu dam. Governor Banwarilal Purohit in his customary address to the newly constituted 16th Legislative Assembly on Monday also urged the Centre to reject the Karnataka’s proposal. “We strongly urge the Union government to reject the Mekedatu project proposed by Karnataka, which is in violation of the judgment of the Supreme Court,” he said. It was sheer coincidence as Friday’s CWMA meeting took place on the day the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT) delivered its interim award 30 years ago.