Unicaus NEWS
Environmentalists from Belagavi district held a protest march within the metropolis on Tuesday to demand the scrapping of the river diversion undertaking being deliberate by the state authorities
The rally held below the banner of the “Our Water, Our Right” motion in Belagavi on Tuesday. (HT picture)
The rally held below the banner of the “Our Water, Our Right” motion acknowledged their feared of the undertaking threatening the water safety 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 in addition to destroy the ecologically delicate 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 many leaders of the motion, stated.
“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 started at Sardar’s High School Ground marched to the deputy commissioner’s workplace 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” motion in Goa expressed its solidarity with the activists in Karnataka and accused the Goa authorities of going sluggish in defending its trigger.
“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, stated.
According to a lately printed hydrological evaluation by hydrologists, the diversion from the Kalasa tributary of the Mhadayi would have a major influence on the Mhadei Wildlife sanctuary, however the diversion from the Banduri stream would have little influence on Goa.
Goa and Karnataka are engaged in a two-decade lengthy dispute over water of the Mahadayi river, a river originating within the Western Ghats on the Karnataka facet of the border and flowing west earlier than assembly the seat at Panaji. The 2032 km2 basin that covers a lot of north Goa is essential for Goa’s water wants. 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 additionally originates within the Western Ghats not removed from the Mahadayi, however flows east however not objecting to Karnataka’s in basin use of the water.
The tribunal in its award handed in August 2018 had granted Karnataka a complete of 13.42 tmc (380 Mcum) of water of which 8.02 tmc (227 Mcum) was for the proposed Mahadayi Hydroelectric undertaking, 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 a pair of.18 tmc (61 Mcum) on 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 at the moment earlier than the Supreme Court the place each Goa and Karnataka have challenged the tribunals’ verdict.
