Puducherry: The Puducherry government would convene a special assembly session Friday to adopt a resolution urging the Centre to withdraw the permission given to Karnataka government to prepare a detailed project report (DPR) for its proposed dam across the river Cauvery at Mekedatu.
Assembly Speaker V Vaithilingam reconvened the session in response to the pleas made separately by the DMK (an ally of the ruling Congress) and the Opposition AIADMK and it is likely that the session would be held for a day, official sources said.
Legislators R Siva of DMK and A Anbalagan of AIADMK had presented letters to the Speaker recently, seeking a special session to condemn the Centre’s decision to grant permission to Karnataka for preparing a DPR.
Raising apprehensions that the construction of the dam across the Cauvery would curtail availability of water for the lower riparian states including Puducherry, they demanded that the move be scrapped.
The Central Water Commission had last month given its go-ahead to Karnataka for preparing a DPR for a proposed balancing reservoir-cum-drinking water project at Mekedatu.
The Tamilnadu government has also opposed the Centre’s nod for the DPR, holding that the proposed dam would affect its right to Cauvery water.