Kalasa-Banduri: leaders say people are getting restive

Kalasa-Banduri: leaders say people are getting restive
The Hindu

HUBLI: A sense of weariness appears to have set in among those who have been articulating in vain for over three years the need for early implementation of the projects for diverting water from the Kalasa and Banduri Nala, tributaries of the Mahadayi, to the Malaprabha Project. For, despite their consistent effort to impress on the powers that be at Bangalore and New Delhi the importance of the project for the region, nothing has happened.

"We have been trying to channelise people's anger through peaceful agitation. With the problem remaining unsolved, the people are becoming restive," Mr Pralhad Joshi, BJP MP from Dharwad North, and Basavaraj Bommai, Janata Dal (U) MLC and Chairman of the State Parliamentary Board of the party, who have been spearheading an all-party agitation, said in a chat with The Hindu. An agitation lasting over two months was given a breather before the onset of monsoon to take up the issue with the concerned with a view to get things moving.

In fact, the stumbling blocks have been the Union and State Governments. The Union Government has been dithering on the question of restoring "in principle" clearance given for the project which it chose to keep in abeyance at the behest of the Goa Government.

The power in New Delhi have not only failed to find a negotiated settlement between Karnataka and Goa but also have not constituted an inter-State water dispute tribunal as demanded by the riparian States.

Karnataka's case has been that it needs the projects for meeting the drinking water needs of the people in rural and urban areas. It has sought diversion of 7.56 tmcft of water of the yield of 200 tmcft of the Mahadayi. The State is of the view that depending on the geographical area of the catchment zone, it is entitled to nearly 40 tmcft of water and the share given could be adjusted against the share as and when it is determined.

Goa's main objection comes from the possible adverse impact of the diversion on its fragile ecology as the Mahadayi, which assumes the name of Mandovi there, is regarded as one of its lifelines.

The Prime Minister was non- committal when a delegation from the State, led by the Chief Minister, called on him a couple of days ago. And the silence of the Union Minister for Water Resources, P.R. Dasmunshi, who promised to find a positive answer to the issue, has proved to be an enigma.

Moreover, what has been shocking is the indifferent attitude displayed by the State Government in espousing the cause. The project received priority when H.K. Patil was the Minister for Water Resources in S.M. Krishna Government. But since then the projects have lost tempo and priority as the matter was hardly pursed till the recent all-party delegation to the Prime Minister.

Even when the farmers of the command area staged the agitation, the State Government chose to ignore it and came out with a belated response only to make the farmers give up the agitation.

Both Mr. Pralhad Joshi and Mr. Basavaraj Bommai say the situation calls for a bold initiative on the part of the State Government in meeting drinking water needs of the region.