Mekedatu Dam project

Context: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister E K Palaniswami recently wrote to the Prime Minister urging him to stop the process of a feasibility study for the Mekedatu dam project in Karnataka. The study has been cleared by the Central Water Commission (CWC), which has also asked for a detailed project report.

About Mekedatu dam project:

Being set up by the Karnataka government, the project is near Mekedatu, in Ramanagaram district, across the river Cauvery from Tamil Nadu.
Its primary objective is to supply drinking water to Bengaluru and recharge the groundwater table in the region.

About the conflict:

Tamil Nadu has moved the Supreme Court. Its main argument is that the project violates the final award of the Cauvery River Water Tribunal, and that the “construction of the two reservoirs would result in impounding of the flows in the intermediate catchment below the Krishnaraja Sagar and Kabini reservoirs, and Billigundulu in the common border of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu”.
Karnataka says, the project will not come in the way of releasing the stipulated quantum of water to Tamil Nadu, nor will it be used for irrigation purposes.

Know about CWC:

• It is a premier Technical Organization of India in the field of Water Resources and is presently functioning as an attached office of the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Government of India.
• The Commission is entrusted with the general responsibilities of initiating, coordinating and furthering in consultation of the State Governments concerned, schemes for control, conservation and utilization of water resources throughout the country, for purpose of Flood Control, Irrigation, Navigation, Drinking Water Supply and Water Power Development.
• Central Water Commission CWC is headed by a Chairman, with the status of Ex-Officio Secretary to the Government of India.

By: Priyank Kishore