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State for meet on Hogenakkal project issue

BANGALORE: Karnataka has decided to write to the Centre requesting it to convene a meeting of the irrigation ministers of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu to get information on the controversial drinking water Hogenakkal project being taken up by Tamil Nadu.

Major Irrigation Minister Basavaraj Bommai told presspersons here on Saturday that the State had received a communication from Union Water Resources Minister Saifuddin Soz in which he had said that the Ministry had asked Tamil Nadu to provide a copy of the final report on the Hogenakkal project to Karnataka in a bid to remove doubts and misgiving in the minds of people about the project and to assure them that this project did not affect their interests.

Mr. Bommai said that while Karnataka was yet to get any response to this from Tamil Nadu, reports in the media indicated that Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi had rejected the suggestion for handing over a copy of project report to Karnataka. Mr. Bommai said that Karnataka might have to seek the Prime Minister’s intervention if it did not get the copy of the project report.

“It is the responsibility of the Centre to get the copies to us as per the norms of the Cauvery Water Disputes’ Tribunal,” he said.

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