There has been a subtle change in the stand of the Union government on the issue of Karnataka having to take consent from other Cauvery basin States on the Mekedatu dam proposal.

Instead of repeating, as it did on July 30, that the February 2018 Supreme Court judgment on the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal’s (CWDT) final award made “no mention” of Karnataka having to obtain the consent of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Puducherry to construct any kind of structure across 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 government told the Rajya Sabha on Monday (August 10, 2026) that the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) had been mandated with the responsibility of playing the role of a regulator and implementer of the award as modified by the Supreme Court.

Pointing out that the Central Water Commission (CWC) had also issued guidelines for appraisal of water resources projects in the Cauvery basin as a sequel to the 2017 norms regarding irrigation and multipurpose projects, the Union Minister said according to the guidelines, the CWMA “shall convey views regarding conformity or otherwise of the proposed water utilisation in the project with the CWDT award.”

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Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay immediately writing to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, requesting him to have the stance withdrawn.

Meanwhile, the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee (CWRC) and the CWMA are to hold meetings separately on Tuesday (August 11) to review the position. On July 28, the CWRC asked Karnataka to release 3,500 cubic feet per second (cusecs) from July 29 for 15 days and this was endorsed by the Authority. This amounted to around 4.5 thousand million cubic feet (tmc ft). An official said that as of now, the cumulative realisaion since June 1 was 11 tmc ft, of which in the last 10 days, the State got approximately 7.4 tmc ft.

At the meetings on Tuesday, the State would demand 37 tmc ft to be released by Karnataka for the remainder of this month.

Published - August 11, 2026 12:30 pm IST