Centre tweaks Mekedatu stance, now refers project to Cauvery panel

The Union government has made a subtle but significant shift in its position on the Mekedatu dam project, moving away from its earlier assertion that Karnataka does not require the consent of other Cauvery basin states. In a reply to the Rajya Sabha on Monday, Union Minister of State for Jal Shakti Raj Bhushan Choudhary said the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) has been mandated to act as the regulator and implementer of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal's (CWDT) award, as modified by the Supreme Court in February 2018.

This marks a departure from the government's position on July 28, when Mr. Choudhary told the Rajya Sabha that the Supreme Court judgment made no mention of Karnataka having to obtain the consent of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Puducherry for constructing any structure across the Cauvery. That statement had triggered a strong protest from Tamil Nadu, whose Chief Minister, C. Joseph Vijay, wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting the withdrawal of the stance and asserting the state's riparian rights.

In his latest reply, the Minister pointed to guidelines issued by the Central Water Commission (CWC) for appraising water resources projects in the Cauvery basin. According to these guidelines, the CWMA "shall convey views regarding conformity or otherwise of the proposed water utilisation in the project with the CWDT award." This suggests that the project's viability will now be examined against the provisions of the Tribunal's award, rather than being dismissed outright on procedural grounds.

The change in wording could have significant implications for the long-pending dispute over the Mekedatu project, which involves a multipurpose dam proposed by Karnataka across the Cauvery river in Ramanagara district. The project aims to supply drinking water to Bengaluru and generate hydroelectric power, but Tamil Nadu has consistently opposed it, arguing that it would reduce the water flow downstream and affect the interests of farmers in the delta region.

The Cauvery water dispute is one of the oldest inter-state river disputes in India, with the Tribunal's final award in 2007 and its subsequent modification by the Supreme Court in 2018. The CWMA was established under the Tribunal's award to implement its provisions, and its role in the current context has now come under renewed focus.

Meanwhile, the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee (CWRC) and the CWMA are scheduled to meet separately on Tuesday to review the current water-sharing situation. On July 28, the CWRC directed Karnataka to release 3,500 cubic feet per second (cusecs) from July 29 for a period of 15 days, a directive that was endorsed by the CWMA. This amounted to approximately 4.5 thousand million cubic feet (tmc ft). An official said that the cumulative realisation since June 1 stood at 11 tmc ft, of which about 7.4 tmc ft was received in the last ten days.

At the upcoming meetings, Tamil Nadu is expected to demand the release of 37 tmc ft by Karnataka for the remainder of this month. The outcome of these discussions will be crucial in determining the immediate water availability for the state's farmers and in shaping the trajectory of the broader Mekedatu dispute.