CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu Water Resources Minister Duraimurugan on Thursday said it was highly condemnable that “completely false” information was being spread that the Supreme Court has granted approval for the construction of a dam by the Karnataka government across the Cauvery river in Mekedatu.
In a statement, he said that the apex court, in its order on Thursday, had only said that the Tamil Nadu government can express its concerns regarding the project before the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) and Central Water Commission (CWC), and it has further said that no decision on the dam can be taken without hearing Tamil Nadu’s opinion.
“Just as the (present) TN government successfully prevented the construction of the Mekedatu dam in the last four years, it will put forth its strong arguments before the CWMA and CRC going forward,” he said.
Emphasising that the present 'Dravidian model' government under Chief Minister M K Stalin will never give up the rights of farmers in the Cauvery delta region, he said the government will nip in the bud any attempts by the Karnataka government to construct the dam against the rulings of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal and the SC.
Recalling TN’s opposition to the dam, he said that, in 2018, Karnataka unilaterally prepared a feasibility report for a 67 TMC capacity dam at Mekedatu and submitted the proposal before the Central Water Commission (CWC). The TN government had moved the Supreme Court against it, he said.
In 2020, when Karnataka approached the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change for “terms of reference” to carry out an environmental impact study, TN approached the SC again and stopped the process.
When Karnataka allocated Rs 1,000 crore for the project in its budget, TN passed a unanimous resolution in the Assembly on March 21, 2022. When the CM met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 31 and May 26, 2022, he urged the latter to direct the Jal Sakthi minister to not grant approval for the project, Duraimurugan noted.
He further pointed out that, during this period, the Detailed Project Report (DPR) prepared for the dam was added to the meeting agenda of the CWMA after the union government expressed its opinion that the CWMA has powers to consider Karnataka’s proposal. However, the TN government not only moved the apex court in June 2022 against this, but ensured that the DPR was never discussed in CWMA’s meetings through sustained efforts. As a result of Tamil Nadu’s persistent efforts, the CWMA returned Karnataka’s proposal to the CWC on February 9, 2024. “This was a huge success for the state government’s efforts,” he added.