New Delhi: While Speaker Sumitra Mahajan struggled to get the House under control on Wednesday, someone held up a placard in front of her, right in the eye of the Lok Sabha TV camera. It read: ‘Stop Construction of Dam at Megedatu Across Cauvery.’
What is the Mekedatu dam project?
The government of Karnataka wants to build a multi-purpose balancing reservoir project over Mekedatu, where the Cauvery and Arkavathi rivers meet. This project, announced in 2013, is meant to solve the drinking water problems in Bengaluru and Ramnagar. The Central Water Commission (CWC) has granted Karnataka permission to go ahead.
Why is it controversial?
The sharing of Cauvery waters between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu is a hot-button issue that has often led to riots and violence in bother states. Political parties within both states also compete to make louder claims over the water – and to reject any compromise – which has made reaching a settlement almost impossible.
Naturally, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry have objected to the Mekedatu project, protesting that the dam will affect the natural flow of the Cauvery. Tamil Nadu’s government says that
- the Central and Karnataka governments are breaking the Cauvery settlement that took decades to reach. (In February 2018, the Supreme Court finalised a water-sharing agreement),
- the CWC should not have made a decision without taking its view into account,
- Karnataka is in contempt of the Supreme Court order that upper riparian (or upstream) states must not implement projects without the consent of lower riparian states.
Both the Tamil Nadu and Puducherry assemblies passed resolutions against the Centre’s decision to allow Karnataka to prepare a detailed project report.
Karnataka argues that the Mekedatu project will have no impact on the riparian states, and the mandatory water-sharing agreement will continue as before.
What is the situation now?
The Tamil Nadu government has filed a contempt petition against the CWC, Karnataka water minister D.K. Shivakumar, and others for allegedly violating the Supreme Court’s order on water-sharing.
In December 2018, the court rejected Tamil Nadu’s request for a stay on the Centre’s decision to allow Karnataka to prepare a detailed project report.
While the case is still being heard, MPs from Tamil Nadu have been raising the issue in parliament. On Wednesday, Rajya Sabha Speaker Venkaiah Naidu asked all 12 AIADMK and DMK lawmakers to leave the house for the day, because they were disrupting proceedings.
What happens next?
Karnataka is keen to implement the big-budget project before the 2019 elections, but Puducherry and Tamil Nadu won’t let that happen easily. The Supreme Court’s hearings on the contempt petitions will continue and could affect the plans.
Meanwhile, Puducherry V. Narayanasamy warned the Centre on Tuesday that farmers may revolt if the dam project is carried out.
As both the winter session of parliament and the Supreme Court hearings continue, it is unclear how this issue will resolve. As with disputes over the Cauvery through recent history, this one is unlikely to go away quietly.