"It is condemnable that Karnataka is trying to create unnecessary panic when court orders are clear that no new dam should be built on the Cauvery without the permission of the lower riparian state..." said PMK leader Dr. Anbumani Ramadoss.

In the statement he has issued regarding this, Karnataka Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar has said, "Building the Mekedatu dam across the Cauvery River is Karnataka's right; since the Supreme Court itself has already granted permission to build the dam, there is no need to seek permission from anyone, including Tamil Nadu."
In response to the views expressed in the letter written by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Vijay to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in which he requested that the Karnataka government should not be allowed to build the Mekedatu dam without the consent of Tamil Nadu, the lower riparian state of the Cauvery, Karnataka Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar has said this. All the information he has presented is false; it is intended to divert attention from the Mekedatu issue. It is of a nature that distorts the Supreme Court’s verdict.
The Supreme Court has not granted any permission to the Karnataka government to build a dam across the Cauvery at Mekedatu. In the case filed on behalf of the Tamil Nadu government seeking cancellation of the permission granted to prepare a detailed project report for the Mekedatu dam, and in the review petition filed on behalf of the Tamil Nadu government against it, the Supreme Court ruled on November 13 last year and again on May 21 this year that the Cauvery Management Authority, on behalf of the Central Water Commission, will decide on granting permission for the Mekedatu dam by following the proper legal procedures.
The Tamil Nadu government has only been advised that if it does not agree with that decision, it can approach the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court’s ruling is that there was no need to approach it before the decision of the Cauvery Management Authority was known. This is well known to the Karnataka Chief Minister too. Yet, for political gain, he is distorting the Supreme Court’s verdict.
Likewise, the Karnataka government has no inherent right to build the Mekedatu dam. Not only in India, but throughout the world, the norm is that upstream irrigation areas should not implement any projects that would affect downstream irrigation areas. This position has also been emphasized in international agreements. Regarding the sharing of Cauvery waters, this is clearly stated in the agreements signed in 1892 and 1924 between the Madras Presidency and the Mysore Presidency. When it has been clearly stated in the Cauvery Tribunal’s final award dated February 5, 2007, and in the Supreme Court’s 2018 judgment, that these provisions of the agreements are valid, how can Karnataka get the right to build a dam?

Knowing all this, the reason D.K. Shivakumar is taking up the Mekedatu dam issue is politics. As I have already accused many times, with elections to the Karnataka Legislative Assembly due in another 15 months, the plan of Karnataka Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar is to turn the Mekedatu dam issue into a political matter and help the Congress party win in more seats across the 11 districts in Karnataka through which the Cauvery flows. For the same political calculations, the Union government will also indirectly support all these theatrics.
The Karnataka government has neither the legal right nor even the moral right to build the Mekedatu dam. In not even a single year has it supplied water to Tamil Nadu, either under the interim award of the tribunal or under the final award. The Karnataka government, which should regard Tamil Nadu as a lawful partner in the sharing of Cauvery waters, treats it as a drain and releases only floodwater.
After the Karnataka government, having had no other choice, released floodwater, it now claims that after building a new dam and gaining the capacity to store an additional 70 TMC of water, it will regularly supply water to Tamil Nadu. Even children would not believe that. The Supreme Court and the Central government should never believe this.
"As elections approach in Karnataka, the Karnataka government will keep spreading falsehoods and distortions about the Mekedatu dam. The central government should not stand by and watch even the Karnataka Chief Minister misrepresent the Supreme Court's verdict. For this, the central government should condemn the Karnataka government. The central government should not grant permission to the Karnataka government to build the Mekedatu dam without the consent of Tamil Nadu, the downstream irrigation state," he said.
