The Tamil Nadu government has filed a fresh plea in the Supreme Court for a direction to the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) not to discuss Karnataka’s Mekedatu Balancing Reservoir-cum-Drinking Water Project at its June 17 meeting, Minister for Water Resources Duraimurugan said on Tuesday.
The Hindu on Tuesday published a report on the CWMA deciding to take up the issue for discussion.
In a June 4 reply to a communication, dated May 25, which said the CWMA could take up the issue for discussion, the Tamil Nadu government contended that the project would be in violation of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal’s final order, as modified by the Supreme Court in February 2018, and the set-up and functions of the CWMA.
“At the 16th meeting [scheduled for June 17], the Tamil Nadu representative will strongly oppose this and point out that this subject is beyond the jurisdiction of the CWMA,” Mr. Duraimurugan said in a statement. Tamil Nadu would continue to take steps to protect the interests of its farmers and people, he said.
Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, at his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in June last year, requested him to urge Karnataka to drop the project. In a representation to Union Jal Shakti Minister that month, Mr. Duraimurugan, too, opposed the project.
In July 2021, an all-party meeting, chaired by the Chief Minister, adopted a resolution opposing Karnataka’s proposal for a dam across the Cauvery at Mekedatu. Later that month, the Union Minister said assent to the project would not be granted without Tamil Nadu’s permission, Mr. Duraimurugan recalled.
However, the Karnataka government, in its 2022-23 Budget, allocated ₹1,000 crore for the proposal. As a result, the Tamil Nadu Assembly in March this year adopted a unanimous resolution against the proposal, and it was sent to the Union government, the Minister recalled.
