Tamil Nadu chief minister C Joseph Vijay has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to stop statutory and administrative clearances for Karnataka’s proposed Mekedatu dam project, saying the 67.16 TMC reservoir could restrict Cauvery flows to the lower-riparian state and affect releases mandated by the Supreme Court.
In a letter to Modi, Vijay asked the Centre to direct the Union ministries of Jal Shakti and Environment, Forest and Climate Change not to conduct site inspections, technical evaluations or grant approvals for the project without the consent of the lower-riparian states. The proposed reservoir is planned across the Cauvery near the Karnataka-Tamil Nadu border.
The request follows reports that Karnataka’s chief minister had held meetings with Union government officials on obtaining clearance for the project’s detailed project report. Vijay also referred to reports that a team of Union government officials had visited the proposed dam site. He said Tamil Nadu farmers viewed the reported site visit as a sign that the project could be moving forward.
“Anxious farmers of Tamil Nadu view the site visit as an indication of tacit movement on a project that would jeopardise their very livelihood,” Vijay said in the letter, according to the report. He sought a deferment of any further administrative or technical action arising from the reported inspection and urged the Centre to advise Karnataka not to proceed without the consent of the Cauvery basin states.
Vijay reiterated an earlier demand that no approval be granted unless the project is found to be consistent with the final award of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal and the Supreme Court’s judgment. His latest letter also referred to Tamil Nadu’s earlier legal and legislative actions opposing the project.
Tamil Nadu approached the National Green Tribunal in May, while the state assembly unanimously passed a resolution in June opposing clearance for the dam. The state government also moved the Supreme Court in August against guidelines issued by the Union ministry of Jal Shakti for preparing detailed project reports for irrigation and multipurpose projects exclusively in the Cauvery basin. That matter remains pending.
The dispute places the Mekedatu proposal within a wider institutional conflict involving project appraisal, inter-state water-sharing obligations and the authority of Union ministries to process infrastructure proposals in a contested river basin. Tamil Nadu’s latest request seeks to prevent technical and administrative steps from advancing while the state’s legal objections remain unresolved.
Vijay said farmers in Tamil Nadu, particularly those in the Cauvery delta, were already facing difficulties during a deficit water year. He also alleged that Karnataka had not released Tamil Nadu’s due share of Cauvery water even on a pro-rata basis. The Centre’s response to the request and the status of any further evaluation of the project remain the next reported developments.
