Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar on Tuesday urged Tamil Nadu to cooperate on the Mekedatu project, asserting it would benefit Tamil Nadu more than Karnataka.
“The balancing reservoir at Mekedatu will help Tamil Nadu more than Karnataka. The water stored in the Mekedatu reservoir helps us release water in a timely manner to Tamil Nadu. There are Kannadigas, Tamilians, and Andhrites in Bengaluru, and drinking water from the project will benefit all of them. I appeal to them to cooperate on this,” Shivakumar told reporters at the Karnataka Assembly.
Responding to questions about Tamil Nadu’s all-party meeting on the issue, Shivakumar said, “Like we held an all-party meet on Cauvery, Tamil Nadu too is holding an all-party meeting. They are entitled to do so, and we don’t object, but they should cooperate with us as it benefits them.”
Shivakumar said that with rains picking up in Karnataka from Monday, the inflow into the Cauvery basin reservoirs has increased. “We are releasing 20,000 cusecs from Harangi reservoir. Rains have come to our rescue,” Shivakumar added.
Asked if Karnataka would release water to Tamil Nadu if the rains continue, he affirmed, “Of course, we will release water to Tamil Nadu. When water levels rise, we have to release water.”
HOW WILL MEKEDATU HELP BENGALURU?
The Mekedatu dam is a multi-purpose (drinking water and power) project involving the construction of a balancing reservoir near Kanakapura in the Ramanagara district.
Once completed, it is expected to supply over 4 TMC (thousand million cubic feet) of water to Bengaluru city for drinking purposes. The estimated cost of completing the project is around Rs 14,000 crores, covering an area of over 5,000 hectares.
This summer, a severe water crisis gripped Bengaluru as it was reported in March that over half of the 14,000 public borewells had gone dry. With borewells drying up, owing to a combination of lakes being drained out for desilting and poor rainfall last year, Bengaluru faced a shortfall of 300-500 million litres a day (MLD).
DMK’S OPPOSITION TO PROJECT
While the Karnataka government is committed to constructing the dam, the Congress’s alliance partner in Tamil Nadu, DMK, has opposed the project.
Ahead of the 2021 Assembly election in Tamil Nadu, the DMK manifesto stated, “Efforts to construct the Mekedatu dam will be stopped. Measures will be taken by the DMK through firm legal actions to protect the welfare of farmers in the Delta region and to ensure water supply to various parts of Tamil Nadu, countering the Supreme Court’s decision against the construction of the dam.”