Karnataka CM Bommai to convene all-party meet on Mekedatu issue

BENGALURU: Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Sunday said he would convene an all-party meet in the coming days on the Mekedatu dam issue, a bone of contention between the state and Tamil Nadu.

"In the coming days I will convene an all-party meet. When it comes to the land and water related issues, all political parties become one. We will take everyone along and proceed further," he told reporters here.

Bommai said he was aware of the agitation by JD(S) leader and former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy on the issue.

The row between both states has seen Karnataka asserting last month that work on the reservoir would start and protests in several parts of the Cauvery delta region in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry against the initiative.

The Rs 9,000 crore Mekedatu balancing reservoir and drinking water project across the Cauvery river in Ramanagara district aims at utilising 4.

75 TMC of water for drinking purposes in Bengaluru and neighbouring areas, besides generating 400 MW power.

However, Tamil Nadu is opposed to it, saying that it will hamper the interests of the state and deprive its farmers of water for irrigation purposes.

In July, former CM Yedidyurappa had written to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin, asking him not to stall the project as it was in the interest of both states to store water to meet the needs during distress years and offered to hold a bilateral meeting to resolve the differences.

On flood relief measures in Karnataka, Bommai said the government would sanction Rs 670 crore for emergency work, which would start once the water level recedes from low lying areas.

"There is water logging in Belagavi in the Krishna river catchment areas, Uttara Kannada and Udupi.

A total of 466 villages in 13 districts have been affected, 13 people have been killed and one person has been reported missing," he said.

The Chief Minister said he had held discussions on restoring road and bridge link in the affected districts with Chief Secretary P Ravi Kumar, the secretary in the finance department and the Karnataka Natural Disaster Management.

Bommai said the government would provide relief within 15 days to those whose homes and crops had been damaged in the floods.

"We have already released Rs 10,000 for those whose houses have got damaged. Apart from this, an amount of Rs five lakh for completely damaged houses, Rs three lakh for severely damaged homes and Rs 50,000 for partially damaged houses will be given," Bommai said.

He said he has written to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, requesting him to send a central team to assess the crop damage in the state.