Centre makes a subtle change to stance on Karnataka needing Tamil Nadu’s consent for Mekedatu

There was a refined change in the stand of the Union government on the problem of Karnataka having to take consent from different Cauvery basin States on the Mekedatu dam proposal.

As a substitute of repeating, as it did on July 30, that the February 2018 Supreme Courtroom judgment on the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal’s (CWDT) closing award made “no point out” of Karnataka having to acquire the consent of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Puducherry to assemble any sort of construction throughout the Cauvery — the position that was conveyed by Union Minister of State for Jal Shakti Raj Bhushan Choudhary to the Rajya Sabha on July 28 — the Union authorities informed the Rajya Sabha on Monday (August 10, 2026) that the Cauvery Water Administration Authority (CWMA) had been mandated with the accountability of enjoying the function of a regulator and implementer of the award as modified by the Supreme Courtroom.

Stating that the Central Water Fee (CWC) had additionally issued tips for appraisal of water assets initiatives within the Cauvery basin as a sequel to the 2017 norms relating to irrigation and multipurpose initiatives, the Union Minister mentioned in response to the rules, the CWMA “shall convey views relating to conformity or in any other case of the proposed water utilisation within the challenge with the CWDT award.”

Mr. Choudhary’s first reply in July triggered an argument, with Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay immediately writing to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, requesting him to have the stance withdrawn. 

In the meantime, the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee (CWRC) and the CWMA are to carry conferences individually on Tuesday (August 11) to overview the place. On July 28, the CWRC requested Karnataka to launch 3,500 cubic ft per second (cusecs) from July 29 for 15 days and this was endorsed by the Authority. This amounted to round 4.5 thousand million cubic ft (tmc ft). An official mentioned that as of now, the cumulative realisaion since June 1 was 11 tmc ft, of which within the final 10 days, the State acquired roughly 7.4 tmc ft.  

On the conferences on Tuesday, the State would demand 37 tmc ft to be launched by Karnataka for the rest of this month.