Furore over the Mekedat project

The Mekedatu project envisages impoundment of 67.16 TMC feet through the ₹9,000 crore drinking water buffer tank at Mekedatu, about 100 km from Bengaluru. File | Photo credit: The Hindu

Tthe row over the Mekedatu dam project, which has been a thorn in the Tamil Nadu-Karnataka relationship, resurfaced when the Tamil Nadu Assembly passed a unanimous resolution against the Karnataka government’s proposal to build a reservoir to equalize drinking water across the Cauvery River at Mekedatu.

The reason for the resolution was apparently preparation on the part of the upper riparian state to proceed with the submission of a revised detailed project report (DPR) to the Mekedat proposal in light of the Supreme Court’s rejection of Tamil Nadu’s request for a review of the November 2025 decision; the court termed the state’s objection to Karnataka’s proposed dam as “premature”. The project envisages impounding 67.16 thousand million cubic feet (TMC ft) through the ₹9,000 crore drinking water buffer tank at Mekedat, about 100 km from Bengaluru. It should have a 400 MW (megawatt) hydropower component, but no irrigation component.

Published – 25 Jun 2026 0:42 IST