BENGALURU: Reacting to the Union Government clarifying in the Parliament that there was no need for Karnataka to obtain the consent of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and the UT of Puducherry to construct the Mekedatu balancing reservoir across the Cauvery near Ramanagara, Chief Minister DK Shivakumar said that the Supreme Court verdict had clearly stated that Karnataka does not need permission from other states to build a balancing reservoir on its own land, and other states have no right to object.
“Today in the Rajya Sabha, the Jal Shakti minister repeated this same point while answering a question from Tamil Nadu’s Anbumani Ramadoss. I thank him on behalf of Karnataka for this,” he said said at a meeting of MPs from Karnataka in New Delhi on Monday. The CM informed the MPs that his TN counterpary, C Joseph Vijay, wants to meet him..
In his reply in the Parliament, Union Minister of State for Jal Shakti Raj Bhushan Choudhary said Karnataka’s Detailed Project Report (DPR) of the Mekedatu project, submitted in 2019, has been returned to the project authority with the request to submit the revised DPR in compliance with the Cauvery Water
Disputes Tribunal (CWDT) award and as per the extant Central Water Commission (CWC) guidelines.
Rajya Sabha member from Tamil Nadu, Ambumani Ramadoss had asked the minister “whether Karnataka has obtained the consent of lower riparian states for the proposed Mekedatu Project.”
Drinking water
The Karnataka government has maintained that the balancing reservoir across the Cauvery river at Mekedatu, around 100 km from Bengaluru, with a storage capacity of 67 tmcft, will help in the release of water to Tamil Nadu during drought years.
The State Government has also made it clear that water from the reservoir will be used to supply drinking water to Bengaluru, and generating 400 MW of electricity from the project will benefit the state’s energy sector. On several occasions, the CM stated that the project will benefit Tamil Nadu more than Karnataka, and they are ready to release Tamil Nadu’s share of 177 tmcft of water as per the Supreme Court order.
Betrayal, K’taka released excess water to TN: Ashoka
Leader of Opposition in Assembly R Ashoka alleged that the Congress government in Karnataka released 0.601 tmcft excess Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu than what was mandated during May 2025-26.
Ashoka claimed that against the stipulated 2.5 tmcft of water to be ensured at Biligundulu, Karnataka released 3.101 tmcft. He alleged that the excess release had adversely affected farmers in the Cauvery basin in Karnataka and could worsen Bengaluru’s water security by increasing dependence on water tankers.Accusing the Congress government of doing politics over the Mekedatu project while simultaneously releasing additional water to Tamil Nadu, Ashoka termed it a “betrayal” of Karnataka’s interests. He demanded that Cheif Minister
DK Shivakumar and the Congress government apologise and explain the alleged excess release.