Ready for talks with Tamil Nadu on Mekadatu: CM Siddaramaiah

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said his government is ready to discuss implementing the Mekedatu project across river Cauvery with Tamil Nadu.

Speaking to media persons here on Monday, Siddaramaiah said Tamil Nadu is not coming forward for talks on the issue despite knowing that the Mekedatu project will not cause any problem to them. Hence, the Centre should intervene on the issue, said the chief minister.

“If the Centre issues necessary permissions, Karnataka is ready to implement the project,” he said in reply to a question whether he will hold discussions with either Tamil Nadu or the Centre on the project.

He said a lot of water is flowing into the sea and the Mettur dam in Tamil Nadu is expected to fill up shortly.

Earlier during the day, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, accompanied by his
deputy D K Shivakumar and some of his other Cabinet colleagues, offered ‘bagina’ to River Cauvery at Krishnaraja Sagar (KRS) dam in Srirangapatna taluk of Mandya district.It has been a custom for the chief minister to offer ‘bagina’ to the river when the KRS dam fills to its maximum capacity, ever since 1979, when D Devaraj Urs was the chief minister.

At 8 am on Monday, the inflow at KRS dam was 57,012 cusec and outflow 33,462 cusec. The water level stood at its maximum capacity of 124.8 feet.

The dam premises and the Brindavan Gardens were decked up for the occasion. 

According to religious scholar Bhanuprakash Sharma, this is the first time that the ‘bagina’ is being offered at the KRS dam during the Ashada month.

In previous years, it used to be offered during Shravana or Bhadrapada month as the dam used to take time to fill to the brim. Sharma has been facilitating the ritual by CMs at KRS since 1989.

‘No plastic material’

Sharma said a total of 30 baginas were offered to River Cauvery.

Extra care was taken to ensure that there was no plastic material in the bagina. Besides offering milk to the dam, puja to Goddess Cauvery, Ganapathi puja, homas and abhisheka to the idol of Cauvery were performed.

Ministers N Cheluvarayaswamy, H C Mahadevappa, K Venkatesh and legislators were present.