Chennai: A day after Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin urged his Karnataka counterpart B S Yediyurappa not to pursue the Mekedatu project, the state government would take up the row with the Union Jal Shakthi Ministry.
State Water Resources Minister Durai Murugan said he would discuss Mekadatu issue with the Jal Shakti Minister during his trip to New Delhi on 5 and 6 July.
Asked about his earlier statement that they would take up the issue with the Union government after the Assembly session, Duraimurugan told reporters, “I am going to Delhi on 5 July. He (the Minister) has given appointments for 5 and 6 July.”
On Sunday, a day after Chief Minister Yediyurappa urged him not to oppose the Mekedatu project, Stalin wrote back reiterating the State’s position and requesting him not to pursue the project across the Cauvery. He expressed his hope that cooperation and a good relationship would prevail between the two States.
Stalin stated that he was against comparing the Mekedatu balancing reservoir project with the two hydropower projects of Tamilnadu.
“Let me clarify at the very outset that there is no consumption of water in the two hydropower projects, with the available water being just recirculated by pumping to meet peak power demand. Both projects do not affect the availability of water for irrigation or drinking in Tamilnadu,” he said.
Rejecting Karnataka’s stand that implementation of this project would not affect the interests of Tamilnadu farmers, Stalin, in a letter to Yediyurappa, said that this view cannot be agreed upon and listed the reasons for it.
He said that the project would impound and divert the first component of uncontrolled flows coming in river Cauvery that is due to Tamilnadu.