Chennai: Decades old water war between Tamilnadu and Karnataka has been reignited.
While Chief Minister MK Stalin has urged his Karnataka counterpart BS Yediyurappa to not pursue the Mekedatu project as he claimed this would divert the flow of Cauvery water and impact Tamil farmers, Water Resources Minister Duraimurugan said the Tamilnadu government will continue to insist the Union government to form an inter-State water disputes tribunal as per the November 2019 orders of the Supreme Court to resolve the issue of Karnataka’s new dam across Markandeya
river.
Referring to media reports that Karnataka had constructed a 50 m high dam across Markandeya river, Duraimurugan said the Markandeya river is a tributary of the Pennaiyaru river.
Because of this dam, about 870 hectares of agricultural land getting irrigation in Krishnagiri Taluk would be affected, he said.
He said the when the Central Water Commission engineers inspected it in 2017, it found that Karnataka has constructed a dam to store about 0.5 tmc ft of water for drinking water purposes and for augmenting the ground water resources.
Stating that Karnataka had announced in 2019 that construction of the dam has been completed, he said the Tamilnadu government had been consistently opposition this act of Karnataka.
‘Based on the main case filed on 18 May, 2018 and on an interim plea,the Apex Court in its 14 November, 2019 order, had ruled that an inter-state water disputes tribunal should be formed to solve the issue.’
Duraimurugan said the Tamilnadu had been continuously urging the Union government to set up this tribunal and this point was also stressed in the letter writter to the Union Jal Shakthi Minister on 29 June this year.
Pointing out that 870 hectares of agricultural lands would be affected because of construction of four small dams across the Markandeya river, the Minister said the State government would continue to insist the Centre to set up the tribunal and find a solution to the issue through that tribunal.
The government will take all steps to protect the rights of the farmers dependant on the Markandeya river and uphold Tamilnadu’s rights on the issue.
The Supreme Court had on 14 November, 2019 dismissed Tamilnadu’s petition seeking to stay the construction of a Markandeya dam across Pennaiyar river in Kolar district by Karnataka.
While allowing construction of the dam across Markandeya river, the Supreme Court, however, said Tamilnadu could request the Central government to intervene and set up an inter-state river water dispute tribunal within four weeks of the order for further action.
Tamilnadu had contended that it was illegal to construct the dam across the river without the permission of the lower riparian State.
However, in its reply, Karnataka said that it was well within its rights to construct a dam for drinking water purposes and does not need permission from any other state.
The Thenpennai river originates in Karnataka and flows through Krishnagiri, Tiruvannamalai, Villupuram and Cuddalore districts of Tamilnadu.
Markandeya river is a tributary of Thenpennai river which joins the main river after travelling for around 30 km inside Tamilnadu, near Krishnagiri reservoir.
The Tamilnadu government had contended that the construction of a dam across Markandeya river would severely impact the flow of water into Tamilnadu and adversely affect the livelihood of farmers in Krishnagiri, Dharmapuri, Tiruvannamalai, Villupuram and Cuddalore districts.