The Mekedatu row is heating up once again, after Karnataka, amid stiff opposition from Tamilnadu, submitted a Detailed Project Report (DPR) to the Central Water Commission (CWC) regarding the reservoir / drinking water project. Following this, the Supreme Court Tuesday granted four weeks time to Tamilnadu and other Cauvery basin States respond to the DPR. A bench, headed by Justice A M Khanwilkar, allowed a plea by the Tamilnadu government which sought the time to study the DPR. The apex court also granted permission to Kerala and Puducherry to file their response.
While Tamilnadu opposes the project, citing that it will result in Cauvery water being restricted from flowing to it, Karnataka claims that the Mekedatu project will take place within its own limits and that there was no legal opposition to it as a result. Now that the DPR has been filed, it will now be brought before the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA). If approved, it will then be taken to the Advisory Committee of the Union Ministry of Water Resources to further determine if and how the project will be implemented.
For its part, the Centre filed an affidavit before the Supreme Court, which had said: “The conditional clearance granted for preparation of the DPR was subject to the project authority (Karnataka) resolving inter-State matters amicably by due consultation with co-basin States of Cauvery basin. Also, acceptance of CWMA would be a prerequisite for consideration of the DPR for techno-economic approval by the Advisory Committee of the Ministry.” Only after a long-drawn legal dispute, a solution to sharing of water in the Cauvery was found recently. Now, stakeholders should not allow another problem to crop up in the name of Mekedatu. Amicable solution is the need of the hour and it must be ensured that all States get their due share of water.