CHENNAI: Chief minister M K Stalin on Saturday announced that a delegation of legislature party leaders led by water resources minister Duraimurugan would soon meet Union Jal Shakti minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat in Delhi. The decision comes in the wake of the statement of Cauvery Water Management Authority chairman S K Haldar that Karnataka’s Mekedatu dam plan would be discussed in its June 23 meeting despite the state government’s objection. This comes close on the heels of Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai calling on the Union minister in Delhi for the execution of the project.
In a statement, the chief minister recalled his letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi last week to instruct the Union ministry of Jal Shakti to advise the chairman of the CWMA to desist from taking up any discussion on the project till the issues were heard and decided by the Supreme Court. The state government had filed three petitions against Mekedatu dam and a fourth petition on June 7 against discussion in CWMA. “The statement made by the CMWA chairman is shocking. Do they have the power to make such arbitrary decisions? When an issue is before the Supreme Court, the CWMA does not have the power to discuss it. It is illegal for the CWMA chairman to say that we will discuss it despite knowing these,” Stalin said.
