Former Karnataka Chief Minister H. D. Kumaraswamy has said that his State would go ahead with the construction of a dam across Cauvery at Mekedatu to address the drinking water needs of seven districts around the area.
Talking to reporters on Monday, Mr. Kumaraswamy who was here to inaugurate a mutt, said: “We are constructing the dam not for agriculture purpose but to meet the drinking water needs of people of six to seven districts in the area.” People living in the district near Mekedatu were facing drinking water problem every year and the government could not supply them water even by digging bore wells, he said.
The dam would be built without causing any harm to Tamil Nadu, he said adding that Karanataka released Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu whenever there was good rainfall. “There is no necessity for us to keep the water when there is excess water.”
The government had released water to Tamil Nadu in the last four or five years without any problem as there was excess water. However, this year, there was deficit rainfall and the government was finding it difficult even to cater to the drinking water needs of Bengaluru city, he said.
The Cauvery waters dispute tribunal had given the award, but the government was not in a position to release the September-October quota of 45 tmc ft of water to Tamil Nadu, he said.
“The Tamil speaking people and Kannada speaking people are like brothers and it is not our intention to harm you,” he said. Farmers in the delta districts in Tamil Nadu faced problems but Karnataka was helpless.
He said the Ganga-Cauvery River link project was 100 per cent necessary. As the implementation of the project would help to solve the water problem between the two States, his party would fully support the project, he added.
