Mekedatu row: EPS slams DKS over push to build dam across Cauvery

CHENNAI: Leader of opposition Edappadi K Palaniswami on Thursday denounced deputy chief minister of Karnataka D K Shivakumar’s statement that a dam would be constructed across the Cauvery river at Mekedatu and came down heavily on M K Stalin’s government for re-imagining a spectator without taking appropriate measures to uphold the rights of Tamil Nadu.

The Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka, who also holds the portfolio of irrigation, asked the officials during the review meeting on May 30 to give priority to the Mekedatu project.

It was also the Congress party’s poll promise and even made it clear that the project would be implemented at Rs 9,000 crore.

However, Water Resource Minister Duraimurugan is dodging the issue and issuing a statement that was nothing but an eye-wash, said EPS in a statement.

The AIADMK government under his regime successfully stopped the Karnataka government from constructing the dam across Cauvery, which is a lifeline of the people in Delta districts, by holding talks with the Centre, said the AIADMK general secretary and former CM.

Citing the Inter-State Water Dispute Act, of 1956, no state has the authority to block or divert the flow of inter-state rivers. The Cauvery Water Dispute Tribunal, in its final direction, has made it clear that no project should be taken up in the Cauvery River without the prior consent of the riparian state, said EPS and unleashed a scathying attack that there was no use in relying on the DMK government to safeguard the welfare of the people of the state.

He cautioned the Congress government that the AIADMK party would protest against its efforts to build a dam across the river at Mekedatu.