BENGALURU: Days after the Centre informed the Lok Sabha that Karnataka needs consent from all Cauvery riparian states to go ahead with the Mekedatu Balancing Reservoir Project, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Wednesday said that no such permission is needed from other states for a drinking water project.
“As per the Supreme Court judgement concerning Andhra Pradesh projects, such permission is not required for drinking water projects.
I have already brought it to the notice of Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat after he issued the statement,” Bommai said, responding to a question on the Union minister’s statement in the Lok Sabha last week. Shekhawat, replying to a question by Janata Dal MP from Hassan Prajwal Revanna on the Mekedatu project, told the Lok Sabha that the project needed consent from other riparian states. Bommai on Wednesday said that he and other officials have been summoned to Delhi with all relevant documents to support the State’s case.
“We will go to Delhi and convince the Union minister,” he said. The government will continue its legal fight against Tamil Nadu’s petition in the Supreme Court and execute the project, he said. While Tamil Nadu has urged the Centre not to clear the project, Karnataka has contended that it is aimed only at providing drinking water to Bengaluru and no irrigation component is involved in it.