BENGALURU: The Congress on Monday, October 5, 2021, set a deadline of one month for the State Government to start work on the Mekedatu reservoir across the Cauvery river, failing which the party has warned of launching an agitation. Speaking to the media in Bengaluru on Monday, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president DK Shivakumar questioned the government over the delay in taking up irrigation and drinking water projects when the BJP is in power and at the centre and in the state.
“Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai had earlier served as Water Resources Minister and he is aware of legal requirements to take up the project. He has also stated that Tamil Nadu has no right to obstruct the Mekedatu project... but why has he not done anything to start the work on the project? Why Krishna and Mahadayi projects were also not started?” the Kanakapura MLA said.
The government must take all required permissions and start work on the Mekadatu project within one month, he said and added that if the government continues to delay drinking water and irrigation projects, the Congress party will launch an agitation.
On Sunday, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai had said that Mekedatu project was the “constitutional right of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu should not try to stall it.” Bommai had said that the State Government is committed to taking up the long-pending project. Tamil Nadu is objecting to Karnataka’s plans to utilise surplus water that now flows from Karnataka to the lower riparian state and has urged the Union Government not to accord approval to the project.