Chennai, July 4: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin today urged his Karnataka counterpart B S Yeddyurappa not to pursue the Mekedatu dam project to meet the drinking water needs of
Bengaluru city so that good co-operation and relationship would prevail between the two States.

In a Demi-official letter to Mr. Yeddyurappa, Mr. Stalin said when Karnataka already has adequate infrastructure for drawing drinking water to meet the demand of Bengaluru Metropolitan area even now, the justification of the need for a reservoir with a storage capacity of 67.16 TMC to utilize 4.75 TMC as drinking water was not at all acceptable.

This would definitely jeopardize the availability of water to Tamil Nadu, he said.

“Now that the share of Tamil Nadu has been fixed by the Court, the optimal utilization of our share hinges only on efficient water use.

But unfortunately, the efficiency of irrigation in the Cauvery system in Tamil Nadu could not be improved much since litigation was on for long”, he pointed out.

Many old structures need modernization and improvements to increase water use efficiency. Unless these works are carried out, it would be impossible for us to meet the water demand at the rate of supply stipulated in the order of the Court, Mr. Stalin said.

He requested Mr. Yeddyurappa to consider these facts and the sensitivity of these issues and strongly urged him not to pursue the Mekedatu project.

“I wish to convey my good wishes to the people of State of Karnataka and earnestly hope that good co-operation and relationship would prevail between the two States”, he added. (UNI)