Bengaluru: Requesting Tamil Nadu not to politicise the Mekedatu reservoir issue, Water Resources Minister D K Shivakumar said here on Thursday that the state's legal team was looking into the petition filed by it before the Supreme Court opposing the project. Speaking to reporters after a meeting of former Chief Ministers and former Water Resources Ministers here, he said the government had appealed to the Centre to convene a meeting of the two states to give Karnataka an opportunity to explain the project to Tamil Nadu.
“If need be we are also prepared to visit Chennai and explain the project to them. We are brothers and must talk. We cannot continue to fight. I humbly requesting Tamil Nadu to come forward for a dialogue,'' Mr Shivakumar added.
As for Tamil Nadu approaching the Supreme Court seeking a stay on the Union government's approval of the project, he said it had no grounds whatsoever to object to this. "Tamil Nadu should realise that the Cauvery Board has control of all the river water. There is no way that Karnataka can utilise the water for anything but power generation," he explained, adding that Tamil Nadu was the major beneficiary of the project and Karnataka would only gain in terms of additional power.
"Mekedatu will act as a balancing reservoir to which Karnataka can release water during the distress years. There is no provision for Karnataka to use even one drop of its water for irrigation," he said.
The dam had become necessary as during some years Karnataka released more than the 177.25 tmc ft of water it was supposed to share with Tamil Nadu, and the excess went into the sea. With a balancing reservoir, such situations could be averted, Mr Shivakumar added.
Replying to a question, he said the state already had a primary Detailed Project Report for the Mekedatu project and was now working on a complete DPR.
