CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to direct officials of the Ministry of Jal Shakti and the Central Water Commission (CWC) to reject the Detailed Project Report (DPR) of the proposed Mekedatu project.
In a communication to the Prime Minister, the Chief Minister stated that the project proposal was in violation of the final award of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT) issued on February 5, 2007, and the judgment of the Supreme Court delivered on February 16, 2018.
He also requested the Centre to advise the Karnataka government not to undertake any new project in the Cauvery basin without obtaining the concurrence of the co-basin states and not to violate the Supreme Court judgment in any manner.
The CM said in his letter to PM, “I wish to bring to your notice that Karnataka has announced the “Bhoomi Puja” of the Mekedatu reservoir on the river Cauvery. The public utterances of the Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka to this effect, has caused a lot of concern among the lakhs of farmers of Tamil Nadu”.
Mekedatu Project is not in the list of projects permitted by the tribunal. There is no scope for additional utilization or for creating new huge storage reservoir, since the Cauvery basin is found to be deficit basin and the available water at 50 percent dependability has already been allocated to the party states, Vijay added.
The CM said planning any new project across the Cauvery or its tributaries, other than those specifically permitted by the Tribunal in its final award and upheld by the Supreme Court judgment, would amount to interfering with the verdict.
In his letter, the CM wrote that Tamil Nadu is firmly of the view that Karnataka, by proposing the Mekedatu project with a storage capacity of 67.16 TMC near the border, is attempting to restrict flows from the uncontrolled catchment, one of the three components through which water must be ensured to Tamil Nadu under the Tribunal’s final award as modified by the Supreme Court judgment.
Vijay said the Supreme Court, in its judgment dated February 16, 2018, had held that an upper riparian state should not take any action affecting the scheduled release of water to a lower riparian state. He said Karnataka’s proposal to construct a new reservoir would therefore amount to a clear violation of the judgment.
“I bring to your kind notice that when Karnataka attempted to obtain Terms of Reference for conducting EIA study, Expert Appraisal Committee of Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change (MoEF & CC) in its meeting held on July 19, 2019 opined that in view of inter-state issues involved, an amicable resolution needs to be arrived between the States and returned the proposal," he further noted.
Vijay also said that the MoEF & CC has not even issued Terms of Reference for conducting the EIA study and therefore, the attempt of Karnataka to proceed with the Mekedatu Project is a blatant violation of not only the Judgment of the Supreme Court, but also of the existing environmental laws.
"In this scenario, it is surprising that the Ministry of Jal Shakti and the CWC, which are mandated to implement the Judgment dated February 16, 2018 in letter and spirit, are entertaining Karnataka’s proposal of Mekedatu Project, without considering the plea of Tamil Nadu." he wrote.
