Chennai: Even as Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, M.K. Stalin remains a pillar of strength for the Congress, given the eight MPs the party has from the state, the Mekedatu dam issue over the Cauvery river will be a major headache for Tamil Nadu as Siddaramiah takes over as Chief Minister of Karnataka.
It may be recalled that the new Chief Minister Siddaramiah and his Deputy and Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president, D.K. Shivakumar had conducted a ‘Padayatra’ across Karnataka for the construction of the Mekedatu dam across the Cauvery river immediately.
The proposed dam is to come up at the inter-state border and is aimed to provide drinking water to Bengaluru city. It is also proposed to generate 400 MW of electricity.
Tamil Nadu has approached the Supreme Court against the execution of the project and during the Cauvery Water Management authority meeting held under the auspices of the Union Jal Shakti Ministry, Tamil Nadu had reiterated its stiff opposition to the project.
arnataka is of the stand that constructing a dam at Mekedatu will not affect the flow of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu. However, the Tamil Nadu side is of the opinion that the state of Karnataka does not have any right to construct the dam in Cauvery as it would affect a lower riparian state like Tamil Nadu.
Tamil Nadu is opposed to any project in the Upper riparian of Cauvery unless the Supreme Court approves the same.
The legislative assemblies of both Tamil Nadu and Karnataka had passed resolutions against one another in 2022 and the issue had ignited tension in border regions of the two states.
Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president, K.S. Alagiri told IANS that the state Congress did not accept the project and added that they would speak to the Karnataka government. He said that the Mekedatu project would ignore the interests of Tamil Nadu.
A senior official with the Tamil Nadu government told IANS, “The Central Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT) and the Supreme Court have found that the existing storage facilities available in Cauvery basin were adequate for storing and distributing water to Karnataka. This makes it clear that the proposal of Karnataka to construct a dam across Cauvery in Mekedatu has to be rejected outright.”
It has to be seen what the next step of the Siddaramiah government would be regarding Mekedatu as the central leadership of the Congress party may direct the Karnataka government to go soft till the end of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
–IANS
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