The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) has called for an all-party meeting on Thursday to discuss the Mekedatu project which has been planned across the Cauvery river by the government of Karnataka.
“In order to discuss about the permission granted by the BJP-led central government to Karnataka to build a dam across river Cauvery in Mekedatu, which will affect the agriculture and drinking water supply to Tamil Nadu, there will be an all-party meeting on Thursday at around 10.30 am in Arivalayam,” read the notice released on Wednesday.
நம் வாழ்வாதாரத்திற்கு மிகப்பெரிய பாதிப்பை உருவாக்கும் வகையில் காவிரியின் குறுக்கே மேகதாதுவில் அணைகட்ட மத்திய பாஜக அரசு கர்நாடக அரசுக்கு அனுமதி வழங்கியுள்ளது குறித்து, நாளை சென்னை அண்ணா அறிவாலயத்தில் அனைத்துக் கட்சிக் கூட்டம் நடைபெறும்! #MekedatuDam pic.twitter.com/akV93ViWEn
— M.K.Stalin (@mkstalin) 28 November 2018
The move, to call for an all-party meeting, comes after the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday. In his letter to the PM, Edappadi Palaniswami requested him to direct the Central Water Commission to withdraw the permission given to Cauvery Neeravari Nigam Limited of Karnataka to prepare a Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the Mekedatu Balancing Reservoir-cum-Drinking Water Project.
Union Minister of State for Finance and Shipping Pon Radhakrishnan, too had earlier expressed his displeasure with the approval for the Mekedatu project due to its potential to adversely impact many people in Tamil Nadu.
The disagreement on Mekedatu project has been going on since 2013, when Karnataka announced its intention to construct a multipurpose dam across Cauvery at Mekedatu in Ramanagara district. The Rs 5,912-crore project will help Karnataka to alleviate the drinking water problems of Bengaluru and Ramanagara districts and also generate hydro-electricity to meet the power needs of the state.
Soon after the announcement, former CM of Tamil Nadu, J Jayalalithaa wrote to the then PM Manmohan Singh, asking him to not clear the project stating that it would impact the lives of farmers in the state of Tamil Nadu who were also dependent on the Cauvery river. Stating that the construction of a reservoir would be against the principles of federalism, Jayalalithaa had said that no upper riparian State can unilaterally interfere with the natural flow of an inter State river without the consent and concurrence of the lower riparian State.Tamil Nadu’s stand was that the project would not only impede the water available to farmers in the state but it would also go against the mandate that the total quantity of water must be for consumptive use, as prescribed by the Cauvery Water Dispute Tribunal.
Source: The News Minute