Chennai: Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami has sought the “urgent personal intervention” of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to deny permission to the proposal of Cauvery Neeravari Nigama Niyamita of Karnataka seeking environmental clearance for Mekedatu Balancing Reservoir and Drinking water project.
Karnataka's action of seeking Environmental Clearance for the Mekedatu project is in “utter violation of the final order of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal and also the Feb. 16, 2018 judgment of the Supreme Court,” he said. In a letter to Mr. Modi, a copy of which was made available to the media here on Monday, Mr. Palaniswami requested the PM to direct the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change to reject outright Karnataka's proposal.
Tamil Nadu government has been conveying its strong objections and has been urging the Union Government to reject outright and return the Detailed Project Report of the Mekedatu project, he said.
“The proposed Mekedatu project is not in conformity with the final order of the Tribunal and the judgment of the Supreme Court, since the project is not a designated reservoir for the release of water from Karnataka to Tamil Nadu in terms of the final order of the Tribunal as modified by the Supreme Court,” Mr. Palaniswami said. Further, Karnataka has not obtained prior concurrence of TN Government and other co-basin States.
“Cauvery being a deficit basin, construction of Mekedatu or any project in any place by upper riparian States will drastically affect the lower riparian States in getting due share of water as per the final order of the Tribunal as modified by the Supreme Court,” Mr. Palaniswami said and added that the matter is pending before the Supreme Court.
Pointing out that he had brought these facts to the PM in the memorandum he had submitted on June 15, the CM said, Mr. Modi should direct the Environment Ministry to issue instructions to authorities concerned not to consider the proposal of Cauvery Neeravari Nigama Niyamita for grant of Terms of Reference to obtain Environmental Clearance for Mekedatu project.
“Further, the Ministry of Jal Shakthi may be directed to advise the Central Water Commission to reject outright and return the Detailed Project Report of the Mekedatu Balancing Reservoir Project of Karnataka and also not to accord any clearance to the above project without obtaining the prior concurrence of the Government of Tamil Nadu and of other co-basin States,” he said.
Mr. Palaniswami's letter follows Karnataka Chief Minister H. D. Kumaraswamy's recent meeting with Union Water Resources Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, seeking early nod for the proposed `5,912-crore Mekedatu project. Kumaraswamy had said that there was no need to seek consent from Tamil Nadu for the proposed project.
