The Karnataka government has told the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change that there is no legal case pending against the ₹16,500 crore Mekedatu balancing reservoir project, clearing a key question before its proposed survey can be considered. The state’s clarification was submitted after the ministry asked whether court proceedings could affect the proposal.
The clarification concerns a survey inside the Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary. The Cauvery Irrigation Corporation had submitted a proposal in February seeking permission to conduct the survey across 0.035 gunta of sanctuary land. The proposed work includes drilling 20 boreholes to assess the site for the planned reservoir project.
The proposal was examined by the Karnataka State Board for Wildlife, which recommended it to the Union Environment Ministry in June. The ministry subsequently sought the opinion of the National Tiger Conservation Authority. According to the report, the NTCA said permission could be granted for the survey.
The legal position was then raised as a separate issue. On October 8, the Union Environment Ministry asked the Karnataka government to clarify whether any cases had been filed against the Mekedatu project. In its response submitted on Friday, the state said there was no case against the project and that a petition filed by Tamil Nadu had been dismissed by the Supreme Court.
The clarification is significant because the immediate proposal relates to survey activity, not a final approval to construct the reservoir. The next formal step is expected to be consideration of the proposal by the Standing Committee of the National Board for Wildlife at its forthcoming meeting. The committee’s decision will determine whether the proposed survey can proceed within the wildlife sanctuary.
A senior Forest Department official, as quoted by Prajavani, said the standing committee was expected to approve the survey at its next meeting. The official also said Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav had assured Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar of this outcome. That assurance was reported as a statement from the official and is separate from the committee’s formal decision.
The Mekedatu proposal therefore remains tied to multiple institutional processes: the state’s irrigation agency, the Karnataka State Board for Wildlife, the Union Environment Ministry, the NTCA and the National Board for Wildlife’s standing committee. The latest clarification addresses the state’s position on litigation, but the immediate administrative milestone remains the committee’s consideration of survey permission.
The project’s stated value is ₹16,500 crore, while the proposed survey is limited to the specified sanctuary area and the 20 boreholes described in the proposal. Further progress will depend on the decision at the next meeting of the National Board for Wildlife’s Standing Committee.
