By IANS,
Chennai : Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa Wednesday called for the central government’s intervention to decide on the future of Tamil Nadu’s Hogenekkal drinking water supply project.
He said he would agree to “a proper decision” arrived after a tripartite meeting between himself, his Tamil Nadu counterpart M. Karunanidhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the project, which has seen large-scale opposition from Karnataka.
“We are willing for a proper discussion attended by the Tamil Nadu chief minister and the prime minister without preconditions. We are agreeable to any proper decision that may result after the tripartite discussions because we believe in national integration,” Yediyurappa told reporters.
The Japan-funded Rs.13.3 billion project across river Cauvery to provide water to over 30 million people in Tamil Nadu’s districts of Dharmapuri and Krishnagiri bordering Karnataka has become a bone of contention between the two states since its foundation stone laying ceremony on Feb 26 this year.
During the run-up to the Karnataka assembly elections, passions were whipped on both sides of the border over the project, whose first phase is scheduled for completion only in 2014.
It can be completed only in 2035, according to the Tamil Nadu government.