The Karnataka Government on Friday said it will oppose Tamil Nadu’s plan to take up the second phase of the Hogenakkal combined drinking water project.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Thursday had said a detailed project report would be prepared for the second phase of the Hogenakkal Integrated Drinking Water project at an estimated cost of ₹4,600 crore. It is aimed at supplying water to Krishnagiri and Dharmapuri districts in Tamil Nadu.
Water Resources Minister Govind Karjol told presspersons here that the State Government would legally oppose the proposed project by Tamil Nadu as it falls within the geographical jurisdictions of both Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. “The Survey of India has not finalised the Karnataka-Tamil Nadu border at Hogenakkal,” he said.
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“Any project that Tamil Nadu wants to implement in the Cauvery basin should be in line with the allocation of water made by the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal and Supreme Court orders,” he said. “Tamil Nadu has not placed the proposed project before the Tribunal or the Supreme Court. Therefore, we will oppose it,” the Minister added.
Mr. Karjol also said that as per Section 13 of the Cauvery Tribunal’s order, the Hogenakkal project should be taken up through the Central Water Commission.
Both States have been at loggerheads on implementing water projects in the Cauvery Basin. Tamil Nadu has opposed Karnataka’s balancing reservoir project at Mekedatu to provide drinking water to residents of Bengaluru city. The Mekedatu project has also been at the centre of a political slugfest within Karnataka between the ruling BJP and the Opposition Congress.
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