Mekedatu Dam Row: We Are Going To Start Work, Says Yediyurappa As Protests Continue

He added that the Union Minister assured him that all issues with regard to providing clearances from the Centre for implementation of projects would be resolved.

Former Karnataka CM BS Yediyurappa. (File Photo)

Bengaluru/Chennai: As the face-off between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu continues over the Mekedatu dam row, Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa met Union Jalshakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat in Bengaluru on Tuesday and said that work for the reservoir would start.

“I don't want to discuss about Tamil Nadu or any other state. We have got every right and we are going to start the work,” PTI quoted Yediyurappa as saying in response to a poser on Tamil Nadu’s objection to the Mekedatu project.

He added that the Union Minister assured him that all issues with regard to providing clearances from the Centre for implementation of projects would be resolved.

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Shekhawat on his part said that all projects related to Karnataka were discussed in the meeting with Yediyurappa.

He added that he has assured Yediyurappa that he would look into pending projects, especially the Mekedatu dam project.

"I have assured that we will look deep into the issues pertaining to Karnataka. We will organise a meeting in Delhi, after having studied all these things.

I assure that justice will be given to the state of Karnataka,” he said.

The meeting came as the Cauvery Rights Retrieval Committee staged protests in several parts of the Cauvery delta region in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. The protestors burnt Yediyurappa’s effigies and condemned Karnataka’s efforts to build the dam.

Meanwhile, Communist Party of India (CPI) leader D. Raja said the Centre should create harmony between the two states and resolve the issue amicably.

“(Prime Minister) Modi talks about cooperation and federalism. Where has cooperative federalism gone now?” he told the media in Chennai.