Mekedatu Issue:
Tamil Nadu has rejected the idea for an exclusive discussion by the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) on the Mekedatu Balancing Reservoir-cum-Drinking Water Project proposed by Karnataka.
- Tamil Nadu reiterated its position that there should be no discussion on the subject, which was sub judice.
- Tamil Nadu has protested against Karnataka’s move to build a reservoir on river Cauvery at Mekedatu.
- It is “not acceptable” to the state that Karnataka wants to utilise 4.75 tmc as drinking water from a reservoir with a storage capacity of 67tmc ft.
- However, the Karnataka Government has asserted that there is no “compromise” on the Mekedatu project and the state wants to undertake the project.
- Karnataka is supposed to release Cauvery water from three sources:
- One being the water flowing in the areas downstream River Kabini, catchment areas of Krishnarajasagar reservoir, the sub-basins of Shimsha, Arkavathi, and Suvarnavathi rivers, and the water from minor rivers.
- Secondly, water is released from Kabini dam.
- The third source is water that is released from Krishnarajasagar dam.
- In the case of the second and third sources, which are under the control of Karnataka, water is released to TN only after storing sufficient water for their use.
- Since there is no dam in the first source, water from these areas have been freely flowing into TN without a hitch.
- But now, TN state government felt that Karnataka was “conspiring” to block this source as well through the Mekedatu dam.
- Mekedatu zone represented the last free point from where Cauvery water flowed unrestricted into the downstream state of TN from the upstream Karnataka.
- Mekedatu is a multipurpose (drinking and power) project.
- It involves building a balancing reservoir, near Kanakapura in Ramanagara district in Karnataka.
- The project once completed is aimed at ensuring drinking water to Bengaluru and neighboring areas (4.75 TMC) and also can generate 400 MW power.
- The estimated cost of the project is Rs 9,000 crore
