CHENNAI: Chief minister M K Stalin on Monday sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi's intervention to restrain the Cauvery water management authority from discussing Karnataka's Mekedatu project proposal in its meeting on June 17. Writing to Modi, Stalin said the scope of the CWMA is limited to implementing the Supreme Court's verdict on Cauvery issue and it cannot consider any other subject.
CM Stalin seeks Prime Minister's intervention in Mekedatu project
Tamil Nadu chief minister M K Stalin on Monday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to instruct the Union jal shakti ministry to advise the chairman of the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) to desist from taking up any discussion on the Mekedatu project until the issues are heard and decided by the Supreme Court.
The chief minister said the matter was sub judice since three applications filed by the state on the issue had been pending before the Supreme Court. The state also filed another application on June 7. "These involve critical questions on the role of the CWMA, which can be clarified only by the Supreme Court. Hence, we are apprehensive that the CWMA's decision to rush to discuss this issue, which is beyond its scope, even before our applications are heard by the Supreme Court, is an attempt to subvert the earlier verdict of the court," the chief minister said.
The CWMA was constituted as per the SC order in May 2018 in order to implement its February 2018 order. The CWMA has proposed to discuss the detailed project report of the Mekedatu plan of the Karnataka government in its 16th meeting to be held on June 17. It could not take up the agenda in the previous meetings after strong opposition from Tamil Nadu.
The chief minister said the scope of the functioning of the authority was limited to the implementation of the verdict and it could not be expanded to consider any such activity beyond it. "I learn that the CMWA has included the Mekedatu project in the agenda of its 16th meeting, based on the opinion of the solicitor general of India, wherein he has stated that the authority has wide powers and the DPR of the Mekedatu proposal could be discussed. This is legally untenable as it is violative of the verdict of the Supreme Court and not at all acceptable to Tamil Nadu," the CM said.
The proposed meeting had caused great anguish among the farmers of Cauvery delta in Tamil Nadu, he said. "I am sure that you are fully aware that our state depends greatly on the waters of the Cauvery for its drinking water needs and irrigation," he said.
