Karnataka Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar said that 2,500 acres of alternative land, including forest land, has been identified for the Mekedatu dam project planned across the Cauvery River.
The Karnataka government has long been planning to implement the Mekedatu dam project across the Cauvery River in Kanakapura taluk of Ramanagara district in Karnataka. The government also plans to store Cauvery water in this dam, which has a storage capacity of 66 TMC, and generate 400 megawatts of electricity.
Moreover, if this project is completed, it will be possible to supply 4.75 TMC of drinking water to Bengaluru and the surrounding areas. In addition, the Karnataka government has been saying that when there is a shortage in the Cauvery River, the water stored in the Mekedatu dam will be released to Tamil Nadu. However, the Tamil Nadu government has opposed this project from the very beginning. Despite this, the Karnataka government is pushing ahead with implementing the Mekedatu dam project.
Meanwhile, on Saturday in Mandya, Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar told reporters:
If the Mekedatu dam project is implemented, Karnataka will be able to store 66 TMC of water and release it as needed during periods of water shortage. Through this, farmers in Mandya district and the Cauvery irrigation region will benefit.
For the welfare of the people of Mandya, I continuously fought to implement this project during my tenure. Along with taking steps to file an affidavit in the Supreme Court, we have also won the case and obtained the Supreme Court’s permission to implement the Mekedatu project.
A consensus decision has been taken to provide alternative land, including forest land, in place of the land required for this project. So far, 2,500 acres of land have been identified for this purpose. Work is under way to identify the remaining land as well. The Mandya district collector has been appointed as the head of the committee that will monitor the measures related to providing alternative land. Officials have already held consultation meetings regarding the provision of alternative land to the Forest Department.
This project gains importance in view of the welfare of the farmers of Mandya district. This reservoir will help regulate the 177 TMC of water that needs to be released from Karnataka to the lower region (Tamil Nadu). At present, orders are issued from time to time on when and how many cubic feet of water should be released.
The Mekedatu project will help manage such situations and regulate water release. As a result, not only the farmers of Mandya district, but also the farmers in the Hemavati and Cauvery irrigation areas will benefit. We will upload all details related to the alternative land and the land documents on the forest clearance website. After that, we expect to obtain the necessary approvals.
For this project, only about 500 acres of land will have to be acquired from farmers. The land acquisition process for that will be initiated.
In this regard, I have already held discussions with the concerned Union Minister. I will also seek support from BJP leaders to move this project forward. We hope there will be progress on this project by the next state budget, he said.
