Senior Congress MLA and former Minister for Water Resources M.B. Patil maintained that the detailed project report (DPR) on the Mekedatu project was prepared by the Congress government in 2017 for ₹5,912 crore. The figure was revised to ₹9,000 crore in 2019 by the Congress-JD(S) coalition government. He accused the ‘double engine government’ of the BJP in Karnataka and the Centre of delaying implementation of the project.
Mr. Patil said there was no stay in the Supreme Court against implementation of the Mekedatu project for drinking purposes. The Central government has to provide environment clearance while the Cauvery Water Management Authority has to approve the project.
The Congress leader briefed mediapersons in Bengaluru with all documents to justify his statements on the project and to expose the false claims of the BJP. A State Cabinet meeting presided by then Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had approved the DPR on March 13, 2017 at an estimated project cost of ₹5,912 crore. The DPR was submitted to the Central Water Commission (CWC), Bengaluru, South India Office, on June 7, 2017.
Though the CWC sought a pre-feasibility report in the wake of change in its guidelines in 2017, later in 2018 it accepted the DPR on the ground that the project does not contain an irrigation component, Mr. Patil said.
Referring to his efforts in getting justice to Karnataka in the inter-State water dispute during 2013-18, Mr. Patil said the Supreme Court on February 16, 2018, reduced allocation of 14.75 tmcft water from Karnataka to Tamil Nadu, from 192 tmcft to 177.25 tmcft from its Biligundlu site to Mettur dam, which was a clear indication of victory for Karnataka on implementation of projects in the Cauvery basin. He also recalled the contributions of the legal team led by Fali S. Nariman.
On October 4, 2018, during the Congress-JD(S) coalition government, the CWC asked the State Government to go ahead with the DPR on Mekedatu. The project cost was revised to ₹9,000 crore on January 18, 2019 when KPCC president D.K. Shivakumar was the Minister for Water Resources in the H. D. Kumaraswamy-led coalition government. The project cost went up owing to increased land compensation cost and other expenditure, Mr. Patil said.
In 2015, then Chief Minister Siddaramaiah submitted a memorandum to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging him to call a meeting of chief ministers of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu to enable the State to implement the Mekedatu project. But the Prime Minister had not show interest in calling a meeting of chief ministers, Mr. Patil alleged.
Govid M. Karjol, who now holds the water resources portfolio in the BJP government in Karnataka, is confused about the project, Mr. Patil said adding the Minister should consult experts and officials in his government before levelling charges against Congress leaders.
Senior Congress leader B.L. Shankar questioned the silence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the matter. “Why has Mr. Modi not called a meeting of chief ministers of the two States to resolve the issue amicably?”
Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai should have briefed the steps taken by the government to leaders of opposition parties by calling a meeting of floor leaders of the legislature. BJP MPs (25) too should have put the pressure on the Prime Minister to facilitate clearances for the project, Mr. Shankar said.
