Environmentalists from Belagavi district held a protest march in the city on Tuesday to demand the scrapping of the river diversion project being planned by the state government.
The rally held under the banner of the “Our Water, Our Right” movement stated their feared of the project threatening the water security of the district by diversion of the waters to the Kalasa and the Banduri, two west flowing tributaries of the Mahadayi river (spelt as Mhadei in Goa) to the east flowing Malaprabha river as well as destroy the ecologically sensitive Western Ghats.
“The people of the district especially the western parts of the district have realised that the very region where the project is planned will face the detrimental effects of the project while people living in distant places will reap the benefits,” Capt Nitin Dhond, one of the leaders of the movement, said.
“More than that, the project will involve submergence of vast stretches of Western Ghats forest that is crucial in attracting rain to the region. Without the forest, neither will we get rain, nor will those who seek to benefit from the project,” he added.
The protest rally which began at Sardar’s High School Ground marched to the deputy commissioner’s office and included environmentalists.
In response to the protests, Jagdish Shettar, BJP MP representing Belagavi parliamentary constituency, termed the protesters as “agents of the Goa government”.
Meanwhile, the “Save Mhadei, Save Tiger” movement in Goa expressed its solidarity with the activists in Karnataka and accused the Goa government of going slow in defending its cause.
“The people of Belagavi have risen up, realising the risks to the environment that will befall both Goa and the western villages of the Belagavi district should the project go ahead. We have been demanding that the Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary be declared a tiger reserve, however the Goa government has gone to the Supreme Court to oppose a direction of the High Court. More than that, despite protests being held in Karnataka, the Goa government has remained silent on the issue,” Rajan Ghate, an environmental activist in Goa, said.
According to a recently published hydrological analysis by hydrologists, the diversion from the Kalasa tributary of the Mhadayi would have a significant impact on the Mhadei Wildlife sanctuary, but the diversion from the Banduri stream would have little impact on Goa.
Goa and Karnataka are engaged in a two-decade long dispute over water of the Mahadayi river, a river originating in the Western Ghats on the Karnataka side of the border and flowing west before meeting the seat at Panaji. The 2032 km2 basin that covers much of north Goa is crucial for Goa’s water needs. Goa primarily opposes Karnataka’s plans to divert waters from the Kalasa and Bhandura streams of the Mahadayi basin to the east-flowing Malaprabha River, a tributary of the Krishna that also originates in the Western Ghats not far from the Mahadayi, but flows east but not objecting to Karnataka’s in basin use of the water.
The tribunal in its award passed in August 2018 had granted Karnataka a total of 13.42 tmc (380 Mcum) of water of which 8.02 tmc (227 Mcum) was for the proposed Mahadayi Hydroelectric project, 1.5 tmc (42 Mcum) for in basin use and irrigation and allowed the diversion of 1.72 tmc (48 Mcum) of water from the Kalasa stream and 2.18 tmc (61 Mcum) at the proposed Bandura dam. In all, the tribunal permitted Karnataka to divert 110 Mcum of water from the Mhadei basin to the east flowing Malaprabha basin.
The dispute is currently before the Supreme Court where both Goa and Karnataka have challenged the tribunals’ verdict.
