The subject of the proposed Mekedatu dam may not figure at the Cauvery Water Management Authority’s meeting to be held in New Delhi on June 16.
Indicating this, an official of the Tamil Nadu government referred to the decision taken by the Authority in December 2022 to take a “uniform stand” for discussions on Mekedatu and any other project in the Cauvery basin, till the Supreme Court gave its ruling on an application filed by Tamil Nadu last year on the Mekedatu issue.
The agenda for the meeting does not contain any reference to the project. The advent of the southwest monsoon, the expected pattern of rainfall and the likely flows in the Cauvery are among the topics that would be discussed.
According to the application filed by Tamil Nadu in court, the planning of the Mekedatu dam project, with a capacity of 67.16 thousand million cubic feet (TMC), generation of 400 MW, and worth ₹9,000 crore, “was in gross violation” of the decision of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal of February 5, 2007, which was affirmed by the Supreme Court on February 16, 2018.
Besides, the State had been consistently opposing any attempt by Karnataka to raise the issue. A year ago, Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta gave his opinion in favour of the Authority discussing the project, after which the State approached the court.
However, it remains to be seen whether Karnataka, where the Congress had assumed office last month, would avoid raising the Mekedatu issue, as the party had, in the run-up to the Assembly election, promised the people of the State that it would go ahead with the project. About 10 days ago, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister and Minister for Major and Medium Irrigation D.K. Shivakumar, while responding to the sharp reaction of Tamil Nadu Water Resources Minister Duraimurugan to an earlier statement of his, said the people of Tamil Nadu should be “warm-hearted” on the issue. Mr. Duraimurugan had described his Karnataka counterpart’s original statement as one that showed an “aggressive attitude towards neighbouring States within days of assuming power”.
In the just-concluded year, Tamil Nadu realised an all-time high of 667.55 TMC, which was around 490 TMC more than the quantity stipulated by the court. In the first six days of the current water year (June 2023-May 2024), the State received 0.98 TMC as against the 1.83 TMC prescribed for the elapsed period.
