Politics engulfs Hogenakkal drinking water project

The statement made by DMK supremo K Karunanidhi that the Hogenakkal drinking water scheme would be implemented at any cost has jeopardised the situation in Karnataka. On one various Kannada organisations has called for a bandh on April 10 while the Tamil Nadu state government has urged Centre to intervene for the sake of the Tamil sovereignty and integrity.

•   E-mail Article
•   Printer Friendly
•   Text-Size    

It has triggered violence across the state and brought dark clouds for lakhs of Tamilians living in the state. The protest has gathered its momentum across Karnataka against Tamil government decision to execute the project; the prominent Kannada organisation Kannada Rakshana Vedike (KRV) in its meeting on Tuesday decided to stop Tamil Movie screening.

TA Narayan Gowda, state president of KRV said: “This is to protest Tamil Nadu’s decision to go ahead with the dam project. We will wait and watch till April 11 and call for a state-wide bandh next week.”

Also theatres showing Tamil movie have been attacked in Bangalore and reportedly pro- Kannada activists have decided to black-out Tamil TV as well as newspaper and called for a Statewide bandh until the TN government withdraws the project.

Retaliating on the same the Tamil Film industry has organised for a ‘fast’ on April 4 over the violent incidents happened in Karnataka, especially to the theatres which screened ‘Tamil’ movies.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi unanimously adopted a resolution urging that the Centre should fulfill its responsibility and protect the sovereignty and integrity of the country.

Earlier Chief Secretary of the state Sudhakar Rao had written to the Tamil Nadu government to stop the work related to Hogenakkal project on February 28, but going against Karnataka wish, Tamil Nadu government in its reply said that it would go with the project to ensure drinking water for lakhs of people of Krishnagiri and Dharmapuri district of Tamil Nadu.

In addition to that, the Chief Secretary of Tamil Nadu L K Tripathy in the letter said, “Karnataka had agreed to the execution of the Hogenakkal combined water supply scheme in as early as 1998.” He also maintained that it would draw water for the scheme from the Cauvery water allotted to it and would not seek excess water.

The project got the approval of the Central Government in the year 1999, the site of project will be located Tamil Nadu, near Hogenakkal. One of the main reasons of the dispute is that Karnataka claim sovereignty over Hogenakkal where it enters TN. The project will be funded by Japan Bank for International Cooperation, at a cost of Rs 1,330 crore.

While BJP National General Secretary Ananth Kumar said the project as illegal as the water sharing dispute still not resolved at the time when the project was taken. He alleged that the TN government had kept the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal in the dark about multi-crore project.

Also the party has accused TN government of not taking approval from Central Water Commission and Union Water Resource Ministry for the project.

Cauvery has been India’s one of the most disputed river and sharing of water of this river remains the bone of contention between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Lakhs of farmers in both the state depends on the Cauvery water. A tribunal was set up in 1990 to decide the water sharing dispute and final awards came after 17 years which led to violence against Tamils in Bangalore and a few other parts of Karnataka. However, the government of Karnataka, unhappy with the decision, filed a revision petition before the tribunal seeking a review.

But the way the issue has come up do raise questions on our leaders who make imprudent statement and put the risk on the innocent citizens. The matter could have been cordially discussed and solved.