Congress to undertake padayatra from Mekedatu to Bengaluru on Jan 9

Bengaluru: The State Congress has decided to take out a 10-day padayatra from Mekedatu to Bengaluru from January 9, covering a distance of 169 km, demanding that the State government implement the proposed project on river Cauvery. The padayatra will pass through Mekkedadu, Kanakapura and Doddalahalli and encompass 15 constituencies and will reach Bengaluru on January 19.

Speaking to the media on Tuesday here, Congress Legislature Party leader and former chief minister Siddaramaiah said, "The Mekedatu project was proposed when the Congress was in power in the State in 1968. Since the matter was in court, the project could not take off. "When I became Chief Minister in 2013, a Detailed Project Report (DPR) was prepared. The proposed expenditure of the project was Rs 5,912 crore then. When Shivakumar was irrigation minister, the blueprint for the project was also prepared in 2018, the proposed expenditure for the project mounted to Rs 9,500 crore," the former CM said.

The project will provide drinking water to entire Bangalore city and surrounding villages, he said and alleged that neighbouring Tamil Nadu is opposing the project for political reasons.

"66 TMC feet of water is going waste in the sea. The problem over the project has already been resolved in the Supreme Court. The people who said that ours was a double engine government, then they should have started the project. If we were in power, we would have started the project," he said.

"The project should be built to provide drinking water to Bengaluru, Chikkaballapur and Kolar. The tribunal has ordered us to provide 177.23 TMC feet of water to Tamil Nadu. Karnataka can release water when there is a good rainfall," Siddaramaiah said.

The veteran Congress leader said the Green Tribunal dismissed the petition filed by Tamil Nadu on Mekedatu and thus the neighbouring State has no reason to complain. "After power generation, the water goes back to Tamil Nadu. This gives them more advantage. The State government is delaying unnecessarily," he said. "All our leaders will take part in this padayatra. We invite all, including autorickshaw association, Dalit sangha and student unions to participate in the campaign. We have not invited JDS as it will not join us," said Siddaramaiah.

Replying to Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai's opposition to the padayatra, Siddaramaiah said, "Let the government begin work. We will stop padayatra. We will also go to the inauguration ceremony of the project." On allegations that the Congress is undertaking padayatra in view of upcoming elections to Brihat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), Siddaramaiah said, "There is nothing wrong in a political party expecting some gains. We are not monks."