Chennai: Tamil Nadu Cauvery Farmers Association president P R Pandian said the Karnataka govt has begun discreet groundwork for the proposed Mekedatu dam across the Cauvery by laying an approach road to the site under the guise of promoting tourism. He also released a video of the purported site which showed steps built there.“We visited the site on Sunday. We found the Karnataka govt had constructed approach stairs going 150 feet down to reach the river level from the surface. People are being encouraged to visit the site under the guise of promoting tourism, but we found iron rods erected on the boulders as markers. This shows that the Karnataka govt is preparing to take up construction of a dam at the site,” said Pandian.He urged the Union govt and the ministry of environment, forest and climate change to act swiftly and prevent the upper riparian state from taking up construction activities `in violation of the final award of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal and the Supreme Court verdict.’AMMK leader T T V Dhinakaran demanded the TN govt to take appropriate measures to uphold Tamil Nadu’s right in the inter-state water dispute by preventing the alleged construction work.
