Congress submitted Mekedatu DPR: M B Patil

In a continued war of words between Water Resources Minister Govind Karjol and Congress leader M B Patil, who was the water resources minister during the Congress regime, Patil lashed out at Karjol on Wednesday on the Mekedatu issue.

While Karjol has alleged that the Congress wasted time without working towards the progress of the project, it was the Congress government which prepared a DPR and sent it to the Centre, Patil said, releasing documents to support his claims.

A delegation of Congress leaders met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2015 and submitted a memorandum, seeking approval for the Mekedatu project. “Until date, the Prime Minister has not called for a meeting with the chief ministers of the states involved,” Patil said.

In 2018, the Supreme Court awarded an additional 14.75 tmcft water to Karnataka, including 4.75 tmcft water to Bengaluru. “This was because of the Congress government’s efforts. This also boosted our proposal for Mekedatu to provide water to Bengaluru,” he added.

The first DPR for Mekedatu was submitted to the CWC, Bengaluru office, in 2017 itself. However, the CWC said as per the new rules, the government should first submit a pre-feasibility report. This report was submitted in October 2017, Patil said.

During the Congress-JD(S) coalition government, a revised DPR was submitted to the Centre when D K Shivakumar was the water resources minister. “When the Congress initiated the DPR and the pre-feasibility report and kept consistently pushing for the project over the years, where is the question of neglecting the project?” Patil asked, further questioning the BJP government as to what it had done for Mekedatu over the last two-and-a-half years.

Meanwhile, Karjol shot back on twitter that Patil had wasted four years on finalising one DPR. “Do you think this is reasonable time for one DPR? No one is asking about what was done but about how much time was spent on it,” he stated.