Bengaluru: Centre's fiat may halt Kalasa project

Belagavi: The Centre's notification declaring areas around Bhimgad Wildlife Sanctuary eco-sensitive zone could come in the way of the Kalsa-Banduri project expected to bring over 7 tmc ft of water from Goa's Mandovi river to the Malaprabha in Karnataka, say sources in the forest department.

Over Rs 100 crores spent by the state government on digging the Kalsa nala close to the Bhimgad forest will go down the drain should the Mahadayi Water Tribunal decide against the project following the Centre's decision to declare the region eco-sensitive, they warn.

“It is unfortunate that the Centre has declared Kankumbi and Narase where the Kalsa-Banduri project work has to be taken up, as eco-sensitive.  

“The project will never see the light of day if Narse village is covered under ESZ as the proposed Banduri nala work will have to be taken up there,” said forest officers.  

According to the notification issued by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest, Kabanalli, Kongala, Narase, Shiroli, Chikle, Dongargaon, Gavase, Chapoli, Warkadpati, Parwad, Kankumbi, Amgaon, Gavali and Pastuli will be covered under ESZ in Khanapur taluk,  where some of the major works of Kalsa-Banduri project are to be carried out.

While the notification says the areas mentioned are located in the  Bhimgad Wildlife Sanctuary and form a core zone of the Western Ghats being home to evergreen dense forests with rich flora and fauna, the officer says the areas where the project is expected to come up are merely open forests.

Meanwhile, activists of the  Kalsa-Banduri Horata Samiti say that the notification will  help Goa at a time when the Kalsa-Banduri project is before the Mahadayi Water Tribunal.

While efforts are on by the state government to organise a meeting of Chief Ministers of Goa, Maharashtra and Karnataka shortly in an attempt to find an out-of-tribunal solution to the dispute, the notification could make nonsense of any decision they take, fear forest officers.

Farmers staging an indefinite dharna in Belagavi city for the project say that the notification should have avoided some villages where the project is to be implemented in the larger interests of  the people of north Karnataka.