SC did not give approval to dam project: TN govt

Published on: Nov 14, 2025 06:56 am IST

Tamil Nadu minister Duraimurugan clarifies the state’s stance on the Supreme Court’s Mekedatu ruling, asserting commitment to farmers’ interests and opposing Karnataka’s dam plans.

Tamil Nadu minister for water resources, Duraimurugan on Thursday sought to clarify the state government’s stance on the Supreme Court’s rejection of the state’s challenge to the preparatory stage of Karnataka’s proposed Mekedatu reservoir as “premature”, saying that the court’s ruling allowed the government to convey its objections to the CWMA and the CWC and validated its views as the “lower ripartian state”.

The Supreme Court held that the Tamil Nadu government was free to pursue appropriate legal remedies in the event of the Central Water Commission (CWC) approved the project’s DPR, with the Cauvery Water Management Authority’s (CWMA) consideration. (PTI)

”The DMK government will never make any compromises on the interests of farmers and will not allow Karnataka to build a dam by violating the verdict of the top court and also the Award of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal, he told reporters in Chennai.

“When the Karnataka government approached the Centre in 2020 to get approval for the Terms of Reference over the Environmental Impact Assessment for the project, the Tamil Nadu government filed another petition in the Supreme Court and halted the move,” said Duraimurugan said that the Tamil Nadu government consistently registered its opposition to the project despite its budgetary allocation by the Karnataka government.

He asserted that the TN government would present its forceful arguments before the CWMA and the CWC, condemning the alleged news reports that the Supreme Court approved the construction of the reservoir project.