Karnataka trying to turn Tamil Nadu into desert: Edappadi K Palaniswami on Mekedatu row

CHENNAI: AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami on Thursday condemned the Karnataka government’s attempts to build a dam in Mekedatu across the river Cauvery. The former CM warned the ‘Karnataka government’ that the AIADMK would resort to all forms of protests to prevent Tamil Nadu from becoming a desert.
EPS was responding to Karnataka deputy chief minister D K Shivakumar’s address to irrigation department officials asking them to prioritise the dam construction.
Quoting the Interstate River Water Disputes Act and the final award of the Cauvery water disputes tribunal, Palaniswami said no state had the right to impound the flows and divert the inter-state river water. The consent of the lower riparian states was required for execution of any project, he said.
“The neighbouring states have resorted to activities to turn Tamil Nadu into a desert. There is no use relying on the administratively incompetent DMK government,” Palaniswami said.