PUDUCHERRY: The Puducherry Assembly on Monday unanimously adopted a resolution urging the Centre not to deliberate on the Karnataka government’s proposal to construct a dam across the Cauvery at Mekedatu at the 13th meeting of the Cauvery Water Management Commission to be held on August 31.
Moving the resolution, Chief Minister N Rangasamy said that if a dam was constructed across the Cauvery at Mekedatu, the Karaikal region of Puducherry will not get its due share of 7 TMC of Cauvery water. In addition, the dam if constructed will store about 67 TMC of Cauvery water. As a result, there will be a shortage of water for the irrigated areas of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, which will affect agriculture in the Karaikal delta, particularly paddy production, and the economy of Puducherry will go down, said the Chief Minister.
The Tamil Nadu government has filed a case in the Supreme Court to stop the construction of the Mekedatu dam. The Puducherry government had expressed its opposition to the construction of the dam at the 2nd Cauvery Water Management Commission meeting held on Dec 3, 2018. Following a discussion on July 14 this year, letters were written to the Prime Minister, Home Minister and Water Resources Minister against the construction of the dam. While the case filed by the Tamil Nadu government is pending in the Supreme Court, it is subjudice and hence no discussion should be taken upon the dam, he said.
DMK member A M H Nazim then said that Puducherry should also join Tamil Nadu in the case pending in the Supreme Court on the Mekedatu issue, while BJP nominated member Ashok Babu suggested that Puducherry should file a separate case in the apex court on the issue.
Responding, PWD Minister K Lakshminarayanan said Puducherry was already a party in the Mekedatu dam case and the government has replied to the Supreme Court. However if necessary, Puducherry will file a separate case on the dam issue, he added.