Key Facts

PMK president Anbumani Ramadoss condemned Karnataka Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar's remarks that Karnataka has the right to build the Mekedatu dam across the Cauvery river without Tamil Nadu's consent, and that the Supreme Court had granted permission for it. Anbumani said the Supreme Court had actually ruled that the Cauvery Water Management Authority would decide on approval following legal procedures, with provisions for Tamil Nadu to approach the court if dissatisfied, calling Shivakumar's claims false, political theatrics, and a deliberate distortion of the SC verdict.

GK Context

The Mekedatu multi-purpose dam project, proposed by Karnataka on the Cauvery river near the Tamil Nadu border, is intended for drinking water supply to Bengaluru and power generation, but Tamil Nadu opposes it, arguing it would reduce downstream river flow guaranteed under the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal's final award (2007), upheld with modifications by the Supreme Court in 2018. The Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) is the statutory body responsible for regulating water releases and resolving operational disputes between the basin states (Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, Puducherry), though contentious new infrastructure projects like Mekedatu require separate environmental and inter-state clearances beyond CWMA's water-release mandate.