Mekedatu issue can be amicably resolved, says Karnataka water resources minister

Chennai: In a statesman-like gesture, upper riparian Karnataka on Thursday offered her Tamil Nadu brothers and sisters to remove “some misconceptions” about the ‘Mekedatu’ balancing-reservoir-cum-drinking-water project and cordially resolve the issue.

Dashing off a letter to the Chief Minister, Edappadi K Palaniswami, significant in the context of Thursday evening resolution by the Tamil Nadu Assembly, Karnataka Water Resources and Medical Education minister, D.K. Shivakumar has sought an appointment with the former to “present the project details and also to have a discussion” as this issue pertaining to the Cauvery river could be sorted out amicably.

In the letter, which he graciously posted on social network Twitter, Shivakumar said that Cauvery continues to be the “lifeline” for the people of both Tamil Nadu and Karnataka and “sacred” to them. “People of both states desire to have a permanent solution on the issues pertaining to the Cauvery,” he reiterated to Mr. Palaniswami.

Stating that Karnataka was for amicably resolving the Mekedatu issue, he said, “this project will also help in regulating the releases in such a judicious manner that the excess water during the good monsoon season is not allowed to flow from the Mettur dam into the sea unnecessarily as has happened during the current year.” The ‘actual reality’ of the project is different from the ‘misconceptions’ in the minds of Government and people of Tamil Nadu, he emphasised.

Though Mr. Shivakumar’s letter comes a day after the Tamil Nadu government filed a contempt petition against the Karnataka minister and the Central Water Commission over the Mekedatu project, he told reporters in Bengaluru on Thursday that the project was being considered only for the power needs of Karnataka and not for irrigation.

He also urged Tamil Nadu not to politicize the issue.