EPS condemns K'taka's move to allocate funds in State Budget for Mekedatu Dam construction across Cauvery river
He also charged the DMK government for keeping silent on this issue.
Edappadi K Palaniswami
CHENNAI: AIADMK General Secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami on Saturday condemned Karnataka's move to allocate funds in the State budget to construct the Mekedatu Dam across the Cauvery River.
He also charged the DMK government for keeping silent on this issue.
Stating that his party was in power, a case was filed in the Supreme Court against the Central Water Commission (CWC), which recommended to construction of Mekedatu Dam, and the petition is still pending, the former chief minister, in a statement, said "though I continuously drew the attention in this regard, the DMK has failed to continue the case".
The AIADMK leader also said that since the DMK government had not consulted the legal experts with regard to the minutes of the meeting during the recent Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) gathering, the Karnataka government had used this opportunity and went ahead to allocate funds in the budget to construct Mekedatu reservoir.
"The Karnataka government has not only allocated funds to construct the dam in the budget but also stated that it had already started the works, including identifying the water submerging land in the forest areas besides identifying the number of trees", he said adding that in the budget the neighbouring State also said that all the works related to the construction of Mekedatu dam would be given priority.
Claiming that the people still could not understand why the DMK government is waiting to oppose the construction of the dam, Palaniswami alleged: "to retain the relationship with the Congress, the DMK is betraying the people of the State in this regard".
Reiterating that if the Mekedatu dam is constructed, about 20 districts dependent for drinking water through the Cauvery River, will be affected, the leader of the Opposition said, "The Karnataka government should scrap the idea of constructing Mekedatu reservoir across the Cauvery River and if it failed to do so, the AIADMK would stage a big protest against the both DMK government and the Congress regime in Karnataka".
