CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu assembly on Friday unanimously passed a resolution urging the Union govt not to grant any approval, including technical and environmental clearances, for Karnataka’s Mekedatu dam project.The resolution, moved by chief minister C Joseph Vijay, strongly objected to Karnataka’s “unilateral move” to construct a dam across river Cauvery. It said the proposal ignored the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal’s final award of 2007 and the Supreme Court’s 2018 order and had been pursued without the concurrence of the basin states or approval from the Union government. “Such an action is not at all acceptable,” the resolution said.The govt said both the tribunal and the Supreme Court had noted that the Cauvery basin was a deficit basin and that the available water had already been apportioned among the states. It argued that no new project could be taken up in the basin, and no additional quantity of water could be utilized.“The Cauvery issue is a highly sensitive matter between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Therefore, this August House urges the Union govt to advise the govt of Karnataka not to undertake the construction of a dam or any new water storage project at Mekedatu or at any other location in the Cauvery basin without the concurrence of the other basin states and without the approval of the Union govt,” the resolution said.The Assembly also urged the Central Water Commission not to examine, process or approve the detailed project report submitted by the Karnataka govt.It unanimously backed the measures taken by the Tamil Nadu govt to prevent Karnataka’s proposed project and safeguard the interests of the state’s farmers.
