BENGALURU: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah today rejected the charge by Tamil Nadu political parties that the state had submitted "false details" to the Centre on the proposed Mekedatu dam project across the Cauvery river.
"When will Tamil Nadu accept the truth? The balancing reservoir that we intend to construct near Mekedatu will not affect Tamil Nadu. It also does not violate the tribunal order," Siddaramaiah told reporters in Hassan.
He said the intention behind the balancing reservoir is to facilitate release of water to Tamil Nadu as per the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal order.
Siddaramaiah was reacting to a question about Tamil Nadu parties alleging that Karnataka had sought the approval for the project by submitting "false details".
The PMK and MDMK had yesterday strongly opposed Karnataka's efforts towards constructing a reservoir at Mekedatu and urged the Centre not to sanction the project.
Karnataka has submitted the detailed project report of the Rs 5,912 crore worth Mekedatu project to the Central Water Commission (CWC) for clearance, last week.
Siddaramaiah said the state government was ready to start the project work at Mekedatu as soon as the approval from the CWC is obtained.
Asked whether the CWC will approve it amid Tamil Nadu's opposition, he said "they will approve, why they will not?
Objection is by Tamil Nadu, but the CWC is government of India."
Defending the recent release of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu, the chief minister said Karnataka government will not spare water against the state's interest.
He said "....we are releasing water in some quantity as there is a tribunal award, we are not just releasing all the water that is flowing in, we are releasing some quantity of what is flowing in."
"If we don't release, they (Tamil Nadu) will go to the Supreme Court...we will not release water to anyone by creating problem for ourselves. Last time despite the Court order, we said we don't have water," he added.
Traffic on Bengaluru-Mysuru Highway was affected yesterday for a brief period as farmers blocked it to protest the release of Cauvery water from the Krishnaraja Sagar (KRS) Dam to Tamil Nadu.
A Supreme Court bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra on March 21 had said all interim orders of releasing 2,000 cusecs of Cauvery water by Karnataka would continue to be in force till further orders.
Following this, Karnataka had expressed its inability in supplying Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu in line with the apex court's directive, saying the state itself is facing a shortage of drinking water.
The Supreme Court on July 11 will commence the final hearing of the appeals filed by Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala against the 2007 award of the Cauvery Water Dispute Tribunal on sharing of water for 15 consecutive workings days.