Karnataka opens Mekedatu division after SC rejects TN plea against project
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Friday said he has opened a dedicated Mekedatu Balancing Reservoir Division under the Water Resources Department and directed officials to begin work on the project, a day after the Supreme Court rejected Tamil Nadu’s plea against it.
Tamil Nadu has been opposing the Mekedatu project, fearing it will cut into its Cauvery water share.
Shivakumar, who also handles the Water Resources portfolio, said he met farmers to address concerns over land loss.
“Today I opened a new division on Mekedatu in the Water Resource Department, inaugurated its office, and decided to identify government land to exchange for the forest or revenue land that will go (submerged),” the Deputy Chief Minister said.
He was speaking at the launch of his Kannada book ‘Neerina Hejje’ (Footprints of water) here where Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, his cabinet colleagues and senior government officers and advocates were present.
Shivakumar noted that the Detailed Project Report (DPR) prepared earlier would be revised.
“These measures have been initiated. I am saying this to demonstrate our will power,” he asserted.
Referring to his meeting with the farmers, the Deputy CM said some feared losing their land if the project is implemented.
“I told them whether they need crop or a dam. Some of them tried to politicise it. I told them not to come here for politics. I asked them to step into in my shoes and say what their decision would be. They all agreed,” Shivakumar said.
Following the apex court order on Mekedatu, the MPs from Karnataka now have the responsibility to secure environmental and other clearances at the earliest.
Targeting Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, he accused her of not releasing funds for the Tungabhadra project despite announcing Rs 5,300 crore for it in the Union Budget.
“The announcement was made when the ‘double engine’ government was in power in the state but till now not a penny has been released for Tungabhadra project,” he claimed.
Shivakumar flayed the BJP MPs for not raising the issue in Parliament.
“None of our MPs also spoke on this in the Parliament. Why these MPs should continue in their post? Learn from Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh where the MPs set aside their political differences and come together for the interest of their state,” Shivakumar said.
The Deputy CM also said Karnataka was working to resolve water disputes over Tungabhadra, Krishna and Mahadayi with the neighbouring states.
He charged Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu with not cooperating to resolve issues related to Krishna and Tungabhadra.
“I have called Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu five times and told him that 28 TMC water is going waste, we have to build Navale dam (on Tungabhadra river). He has given some suggestion but he is not ready for meeting. Because they (people of Andhra Pradesh) are getting water, he (Naidu) is not cooperating.
The Mekedatu balancing reservoir project proposes a dam across the Cauvery near the deep gorge of Mekedatu—where the Arkavathi meets the Cauvery on the Ramanagara-Chamarajanagar border. It aims to use 4.75 TMC ft of water to supply drinking water to Bengaluru and nearby areas, while generating about 400 MW of power.
According to officials in the Water Resources Department, the reservoir will act as a buffer, ensuring Tamil Nadu receives its share of Cauvery water without affecting the Krishnaraja Sagar (KRS) dam levels.
The cost of the project is estimated to be between Rs 9,000 crore and Rs 14,000 crore, officials said.
Speaking on the occasion, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said there was no reason to oppose the Mekedatu project and alleged that the objections were raised only for politics.
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Former railway minister Mukul Roy dies at 71
Kolkata (PTI): Former railway minister Mukul Roy, once regarded as West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's most trusted lieutenant and the TMC's principal strategist, died of cardiac arrest at a private hospital here early on Monday.
He was 71, and is survived by his son, Subhranshu Roy.
He breathed his last around 1.30 am at the hospital in Salt Lake, Subhranshu Roy said.
He had been suffering from multiple ailments and was in and out of the hospital over the past two years. Family members said he had also been diagnosed with dementia and had recently gone into a coma.
His body will be taken to his residence before the last rites are performed later in the day, they said.
A former Union minister and two-time Rajya Sabha member from West Bengal, Roy's four-decade-long political journey saw his stints in the Congress, TMC and the BJP.
His political career began with the Youth Congress, before he joined hands with Banerjee when she broke away from the grand old party to form the Trinamool Congress in 1998.
As a founding member, he quickly emerged as one of the key organisational pillars of the fledgling party and went on to serve as its general secretary.
He was elected to the Rajya Sabha in 2006 and became the party's leader in the Upper House in 2009, turning into TMC's principal troubleshooter in Delhi. In the UPA-2 government, when the TMC was a constituent, Roy first served as Minister of State for Shipping before taking over as the railway minister in 2012.
In West Bengal's political circles, Roy earned a reputation as a backroom operator deft in organisational work. Following the TMC's historic victory in 2011 that ended 34 years of the Left Front rule, he played a significant role in consolidating the party's hold in several districts, overseeing defections from the CPI(M) and the Congress, strengthening the new regime's political base.
However, his career was not without controversy. His name had surfaced in the Saradha chit fund case and the Narada sting operation.
By 2017, relations between Roy and the TMC leadership had deteriorated. In November that year, he joined the BJP in a move that altered the state's political equations. Tasked with strengthening the BJP's organisation in West Bengal, Roy was credited by party leaders with helping engineer defections from the TMC and expanding the saffron party's base ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, in which the BJP won 18 of the state's 42 seats.
He was elected as a BJP MLA from the Krishnanagar Uttar constituency in the 2021 West Bengal assembly elections. Within months, however, he returned to the TMC, triggering legal and political wrangling. Subsequently, a court disqualified him as an MLA under the anti-defection law for switching parties after being elected on a BJP ticket.
Though he rejoined the TMC, Roy never regained the political centrality he once enjoyed. As his health declined, he gradually withdrew from active politics.
Often described as the 'Chanakya' of West Bengal politics during his prime, Roy remained a pivotal figure in the state's turbulent political landscape -- a strategist who operated as comfortably in Delhi's power corridors as in the backrooms of Kolkata's party offices.
Leader of the opposition in the state assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, condoled Roy's death.
In an X post, he wrote, "Deeply disheartened to learn about the sad demise of senior politician, Shri Mukul Roy. My sincere condolences to his family. Praying that his soul attains eternal peace. Om Shanti."
