What’s the Cauvery dispute and how does the Mekedatu dam feature in it?

6 min readNew DelhiJul 29, 2026 03:55 PM IST Farmers led by National South Indian Rivers Inter-Linking Farmers Association President P Ayyakkannu bury themselves in the sand on the Cauvery riverbed as they stage a protest to block or limit the release of Cauvery river water to Tamil Nadu, in Tiruchirappalli district, Tuesday, July 21, 2026. (PTI Photo) Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay has sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s intervention to ensure that no statutory or administrative approval is granted to Karnataka’s proposed Mekedatu project unless it is consistent with the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal’s 2007 award and the Supreme Court’s 2018 judgment on the sharing of the river’s waters. The letter was prompted by the Jal Shakti’s Parliament reply on July 27, which stated th