A few days after his comments on BJP’s electoral loss in 5 states, Rajinikanth has responded to the Mekedatu dam project issue. He says we must take action if Central government does not keep up its promise that the dam won’t affect Tamil Nadu.
Speaking to the press, the actor said, “Central government has promised that Tamil Nadu will not be affected by the Mekedatu dam project. But we have to know how far it is true and take legal action if it is not good for the state. It is the only possible way.”
At the meet, he also denied speculations that journalist Rangaraj Pandey had resigned from Thanthi TV to become an advisor in Rajinikanth’s party.
The Mekedatu Project is a multi-purpose reservoir project over the Mekedatu gorge located around 100 km from Bengaluru in Ramanagara district. The project has courted controversy ever since it was announced in 2013. Environmentalists have opposed the project as it has been proposed in an elephant corridor in the forest area of Sangama, where the Cauvery and Arkavathy rivers meet.
It has also been opposed by the Tamil Nadu government over fears of the absence of a body to monitor the Cauvery Water Dispute Tribunal’s order, making the project unfeasible for the state which is downstream the reservoir.
Last Thursday, the State Assembly passed a resolution moved by Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami urging the Centre to direct Karnataka government “not to take up any construction works by it or through its agencies at Mekedatu or at any other place in the Cauvery basin of Karnataka State without the consent of Tamil Nadu.”
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The State also suspected that through the proposed project Karnataka intends to extend its area under irrigation, depriving Tamil Nadu farmers of their share of water from the inter-state river. The Karnataka government, however, maintained that the proposed dam was only a balancing reservoir meant to generate electricity, and to ensure water to TN, besides ensuring drinking water for Bengaluru.
CV Shanmugam, Minister for Law, Courts and Prisons, in a letter urged the Karnataka government not to proceed with the preparation of the Detailed Project Report (DPR) for Mekedatu, violating the Supreme Court order.
However, the Supreme Court on Wednesday did not allow Tamil Nadu government’s plea for a stay against the permission granted to Karnataka to prepare a detailed project report for Mekedatu balancing reservoir across Cauvery river.