Tamil Nadu on Friday rejected the idea for an exclusive discussion by the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) on the Mekedatu Balancing Reservoir-cum-Drinking Water Project proposed by Karnataka.
At a virtual meeting of the CWMA, which lasted more than two hours, its chairperson Saumitra Kumar Haldar made the suggestion in response to Karnataka’s persistent demand. But Tamil Nadu reiterated its position that there should be no discussion on the subject, which was sub judice.
The meeting was attended by the Additional Chief Secretaries of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala, handling water resources — Sandeep Saxena, Rakesh Singh and T.K. Jose respectively — while Puducherry was represented by Public Works Department Chief Engineer V. Sathyamurti.
Deferred for long
Explaining the rationale behind his move, Mr. Haldar told The Hindu over phone that the CWMA had kept on deferring the subject for a few years, despite its having been created only for discussions on such a project. Even the Union Ministry of Jal Shakti could not deliberate on the matter as it did not have representatives from all the basin States — Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala, besides the Union Territory of Puducherry — whereas the Authority had.
“As none of us is familiar with all the salient features of the [Mekedatu] project, Karnataka should be allowed to make a presentation. Let us all get familiarised with the salient features of the project. It can even be a day-long meeting wherein all can present their views.”
However, he clarified that no decision would be taken by the CWMA because “no decision can be taken in a day or a week or even months”. Once all the parties to the dispute presented their views, the CWMA would submit them to the Central Water Commission (CWC), which had referred the matter.
Asked whether the CWMA could discuss a matter which was sub judice, Mr. Haldar replied that “if required, we can take a legal opinion”. To another question whether he would hold a discussion on the matter, regardless of Tamil Nadu’s opposition, he replied that he would like a consensus before holding any such discussion.
In the last one week, Union Ministers of State for Jal Shakti and Environment, Forest and Climate Change Bishweswar Tudu and Ashwini Kumar Choubey replied in the Lok Sabha to questions raised by S. Ramalingam and T.R. Paarivendhar (Tamil Nadu) and Prajwal Revanna (Karnataka) on the Mekedatu project.
Mr. Tudu referred to Tamil Nadu’s request to the Central government to advise Karnataka not to take up the project and said a discussion could not take place at the CWMA owing to “lack of consensus” among the parties. Mr. Choubey mentioned that the Expert Appraisal Committee of his Ministry, after “detailed deliberations” on the project, opined that in view of “inter-State issues” between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, an amicable solution needed to be arrived at between the two States.
