Hubballi: The visit of a team comprising officials of the Goa water resource ministry and Mahadayi (Mandovi) Bachao Andolan activists to the Kalasa Banduri project site at Kanakumbi village in Belagavi, has angered Mumbai-Karnataka farmers who claimed it is an attempt to mislead the Mahadayi tribunal which is set to pronounce its final judgement on the inter-state Mahadayi row on or before August 20.
After conducting an inspection of the work on Kalasa canal on Monday, Goa water resources minister Vinod Palyekar alleged that Karnataka is diverting Mahadayi water to Malaprabha river despite the tribunal ordering a stay and also stated that he will file a petition on Wednesday.
Earlier, a similar team of Goa had visited the project site in January inviting the wrath of leaders of the Mahadayi movement. Terming Goa’s move as violation of protocol, the then water resources minister M.B. Patil had clarified that no illegal work was undertaken by the state government. Now, expressing surprise over the lack of any information to police officials about the Goa team’s visit this time, farmer leaders claimed that the Belagavi district administration has adopted double standards by preventing Karnataka’s farmers from visiting the site and allowing Goa to conduct the inspection.
“Police officials detain us when protesting farmers visit Kanakumbi. Therefore, we want the government to apply the same rule to the Goa team because there is a strict order from the tribunal to stop entry into the project site. The JD(S)-Congress coalition government is trying to keep the issue alive by allowing entry of the Goa team to pass the blame onto the Centre for its failure to intervene to resolve the issue,” Kalasa-Banduri Horata Samiti president Vijay Kulkarni said.
The monsoon session of the Goa Assembly is going on and the government of the neighbouring state is planning to take a concrete stand on the Mahadayi issue ahead of the tribunal order next month. It is also under pressure to furnish details to the Opposition on the steps taken by it on the issue.
