Statue Diplomacy Part 2: Drinking Water-Power Give & Take
Gabriel Vaz
Daijiworld Media Network
BANGALORE, APRIL 30: Having succeeded in resolving the vexed issue of installation of the statues of Thiruvalluvar in Bangalore and Sarvajna in Chennai and thereby ushering in bonhomie between the people of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, in what is generally regarded as statue diplomacy by Chief Ministers B S Yeddyurappa and M Karunanidhi, a similar effort is being sought to be made to sort out the mutual distrust and antagonism over the Hogenakkal drinking water project and Shivanasamudram run-off-the river hydel power project at Mekedatu.
While the neighbouring Tamil Nadu is facing severe drinking water problem in its Dharmapuri and Krishnagiri districts near the state borders, which also have to contend with the problem of excessive fluoride contamination of the ground water resources, Karnataka’s chronic power shortage needs no recounting and the problems faced by the people due to frequent load-shedding and disruptions in power supply.
If Tamil Nadu sought to tackle the drinking water problem of Dharmapuri and Krishnagiri districts by taking steps to implement an ambitious Rs 1,334 crore Hogenakkal Water Supply and Fluorosis Mitigation problem with assistance from the Japanese Bank of International Cooperation (JBIC), which had already been launched despite Karnataka’s objection, Karnataka has been trying its best to convince the neighbouring state government to agree to its proposal of implementing the most economical and cost-effective hydel power project at Mekedatu by utilizing the flow of Cauvery water into Tamil Nadu.
With the sharing of Cauvery waters being a contentious inter-state subject, which is presently awaiting the inter-state river water disputes tribunal’s final orders, and the successive governments in Chennai refusing to give their concurrence unmindful of the assurances from Bangalore that the share of Cauvery waters due to Tamil Nadu would not be affected in any way after the execution of the hydel power project, even the Centre had been prodding both governments to sort out their differences and arrive at an amicable solution so that the opportunity to generation precious power generation was not wasted.
However, both Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, irrespective of the parties in power in both the states, have been rigidly sticking their position of opposing the two projects in the respective states. If Tamil Nadu has been coming in the way of Karnataka’s implementation of the Mekedatu hydel project, Karnataka has been objecting to the Hogenakkal drinking water project by shooting off complaints to the Centre and even threatening to approach the Supreme Court.
Successive governments in Karnataka have held the position that the state was not against the drinking water project per se but was against the alleged deviation from the original plan. The state government has even raised an objection to the project site by contending that it was within Karnataka’s borders.
Karantaka’s Water Resources Minister Basavaraja Bommai had publicly accused Tamil Nadu of clandestinely modifying its original plan of utilizing 1.7 tmcft of water to meet the drinking water needs of 30 lalk people in the two water-starved districts. He had alleged that Tamil Nadu had taken up works for utilizing 2.5 tmcft of water and raising the coverage to meet the drinking water needs of 45 lakh people.
The location of the Hogenkkal project itself was disputed by the state by claiming that the land where the project was being executed belongs to Karnataka. The project is coming up on the inter river basin -- Cauvery and Pennar – site, Bommai had said warning that the state government would take up the matter with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to hold talks with the two state governments and resolve the dispute. The Minister had gone to the extent of threatening to write to JBIC to discontinue its funding for the project.
Tamil Nadu’s Deputy Chief Minister M K Stalin, son of Karunanidhi, had stoutly rejected the state’s contention and had declared that the Hogenakkal project would not be shelved.
It may be recalled that Yeddyurappa had even gone to the disputed project site to offer dharna as part of the protest and state’s militant Kannada Rakshna Vedike activists have been resorting to agitations on the issue on and off.
Given this mutually antagonistic background among the two state governments, Karnataka’s Home Minister Dr V A Acharaya, who is considered quite close to Yeddyurappa, has suddenly come out with an announcement stating: ``We want to take a delegation to meet Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi to discuss these issues and resolve them. I will talk to our Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa shortly.’’
Explaining the rationale for extending the olive branch to Tamil Nadu, Dr Acharya said: ``This is the right and most appropriate time for us to bargain. We do not want to stall any project (Hogenakkal drinking water project). The proposal we are taking is mutually beneficial to both the states. Inter-state river is a national wealth and its resources should be optimally utilized by the states. At the same time, efforts to step up power generation and solve the acute power scarcity must be supported.’’
While it is known fact that Karnataka is power-starved state, it is also true that Tamil Nadu has a serious drinking water supply problem in Dharmapuri and Krishnagiri districts. ``If we forget our petty political differences and ego problems and adopt a pragmatic approach in a genuine give and take spirit, all contentious issues can be resolved,’’ he said.
Dr Acharya said he would discuss with the Chief Minister and convince him to lead an official or all party delegation in a bid to convince the DMK supremo Dr M Karunanidhi to pave the way for smooth implementation of the Mekedatu hydel power project in return for Karnataka withdrawing its objections to the Hogenakkal drinking water project.
"If we could solve the contentious issue of installation of the statues of two of the most popular and widely revered poet-saints and Dr Karunanidhi publicly termed Yeddyurappa as Chinna Thambi (younger brother) and the latter responded by terming the veteran DMK leader as Periya Thambi (elder brother),” Dr Acharya said: ``anything is possible.”
The Home Minister mentioned that the issue regarding Jindal Power Supply Company’s agreement for supply of power to Tamil Nadu and Karnataka government’s recent order directing all power generating companies in the state not to sell power outside the state had also been resolved on a 50:50 sharing basis.
Answering questions, Dr Acharya said the state government had urged the Centre during the recent meeting of Power Ministers in Delhi for ensuring supply of its quota of 1,543 mw as there was a shortfall of 250 to 400 mw per day at present. The Union Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde suggested to him that there could be another meeting between them to sort out the issue.
He said Karnataka also pressed the Centre for allocating gas for its proposed gas—based plants from Krishna-Godavari basin. A Belgium-based company has offered to import gas and supply it to Karnataka and the proposal was under study, he added.