Tamil Nadu has moved Supreme Court against its order on Mekedatu project, state minister says

Chennai: As Karnataka constituted a committee to expedite the contentious Mekedatu reservoir project, the Tamil Nadu government on Friday said it has moved the Supreme Court seeking a review of its November 13 order refusing to entertain the state’s application against the proposed dam across River Cauvery.

Water Resources Minister Durai Murugan said in a statement that the state government has also petitioned the Central Water Commission (CWC) arguing that construction of dam in Mekedatu in Karnataka would be detrimental to Tamil Nadu and contradicts the February 16, 2018 order by the Supreme Court on sharing of the Cauvery water.

“…the Tamil Nadu Government filed a review petition in the Supreme Court on December 11 seeking review of the Supreme Court's order dated November 13,” Durai Murugan said.

The SC had on November 13 refused to entertain Tamil Nadu’s application against Mekedatu and termed the state’s objection premature. On Friday, the Karnataka Government constituted a team led by the Karnataka Engineering Research Station (KERS) director with regard to the project.

The TN Minister said the state argued that the Mekedatu dam would cause severe damage to Tamil Nadu, and that attempting to build it would exacerbate the dispute between the two states.

“Certain observations in this judgment, particularly the statement that states can decide for themselves how to utilize the water allocated to them, contradict paragraph 447 of the judgment dated February 16, 2018, which specified that the allocated water must be used only for the projects mentioned in the order,” Durai Murugan said.

He assured that the Tamil Nadu Government will continue to take firm actions to protect the welfare of Cauvery Delta farmers and will never allow Karnataka to go ahead with construction in Mekedatu.

Karnataka proposed to construct a reservoir with a capacity of 67.16 tmcft in Mekedatu across River Cauvery to provide drinking water for Bengaluru. However, Tamil Nadu says Karnataka cannot proceed with the project without the permission of the lower riparian state. TN also believes the project will obstruct natural flow of water from Karnataka and the two states have been waging a legal battle over the issue.

Tamil Nadu believes the project will be detrimental to the interests of farmers in the Cauvery Delta region, who are entirely dependent on Cauvery water, but Karnataka feels otherwise saying it will be beneficial to the neighbouring state.