Stalin asks Modi to stop CWMA discussing Mekadatu DPR

CHENNAI: Chief Minister M K Stalin on Monday asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to instruct the union Jal Shakthi ministry to advise the chairman of Cauvery water Management Authority (CWMA) to not take up any discussion on Mekadatu project in the 16th CWMA meeting till the related issues are heard and decided by the Supreme Court.

Stating that the proposal of CWMA to discuss the DPR of Mekadatu Project in its 16th meeting on June 17, 2022 has caused great anguish among the farmers of the Cauvery Delta in Tamil Nadu, Stalin said, “The discussion on the DPR of Mekadatu proposed in the 16th CWMA meeting has to be postponed till the Supreme Court hears our application and gives its decision on them.”

Reasoning that the CWMA was specifically constituted as per the May 18, 2018 verdict of the SC only for implementing its February 16, 2018 order, the CM, in his demi-official letter to the PM said, “I request you to instruct the ministry of Jal Shakthi to advise the Chairman of CwMA to desist from taking up any discussion on the Mekadatu project, till the issues are heard and decided by the Supreme Court.”

The Chief Minister also added that the scope of the functioning of the authority is strictly limited only to implementation of the verdict and it cannot be expanded to consider any such activity beyond it. Arguing that the CWMA has included Mekadatu for the meeting based on the opinion of the solicitor general of India, Stalin said, “This is legally untenable as it is violative of the verdict of the Supreme Court and not at all acceptable to Tamil Nadu.”

“The matter is sub-judice since three applications filed by Tamil Nadu on the issue are pending before the SC. We have also filed another application in the SC on June 7. These involve critical questions on the role of CWMA, which can be clarified only by the SC. Hence, we are apprehensive that the CWMA decision to rush up and discuss this issue, which is beyond its scope, even before our applications are heard by the SC, is an attempt to subvert the earlier verdict of the Court,” he said. “Hence, the discussion on the DPR of Mekadatu proposed in the 16th CWMA meeting has to be postponed till the SC hears our applications and gives its decision on them,” he added.

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