Yediyurappa appeals to Stalin not to oppose Mekedatu project

4 years ago newscubic

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin has been opposing the construction of Mekedatu project on river Kaveri but now Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa wrote a letter urging Stalin not to oppose the project and also offered to hold bilateral meetings between the two states to resolve the contentious issues. Mekedatu is a balancing reservoir project across the Kaveri River. Mekedatu, which means goat’s jump, is a deep valley situated at the confluence of river Kaveri and its tributary Arkavati in Kanakapura taluk of Ramnagar district.

The objective of the project is to store and supply water for drinking purposes for the city of Bengaluru. It is also proposed to generate about 400 megawatts (MW) of electricity through the project and Karnataka announced the project in 2013. On June 18, the Tamil Nadu CM had opposed the project when Karnataka CM Yediyurappa tweeted that the state was gearing up to start work on the Mekedatu project.

Yediyurappa has written a two-page letter to his counterpart in Tamil Nadu in this context. Yediyurappa said in his letter that the implementation of this project will not affect the interests of the farming communities of Tamil Nadu. Yediyurappa pointed out that Tamil Nadu had moved the apex court against the project. He said, Karnataka has also filed an application with the central government for approval of the Terms of Reference (TOR) to conduct the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) study.

The CM further said that Tamil Nadu itself had started two hydro-electric projects at Kundah and Silahalla in Bhavani sub-basin of Cauvery. Yediyurappa said, Tamil Nadu has neither negotiated nor obtained consent from Karnataka for the above projects in the Cauvery basin. Yediyurappa said, “In these circumstances, I want to say that it will be in the interest of all concerned and there will be better relations between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu state, if the Tamil Nadu government does not oppose the implementation in the right spirit.”