Centre urged to stop Karnataka from diverting Mahadeyi river waters

Panaji, Sep 21 (UNI) Rajya Sabha member Shantaram Naik today urged Union Water Resources Minister Prof Saifuddin Soz to prevail upon the Karnataka Government not to undertake the project aimed at diverting the waters of the Mahadeyi river.

In a letter to Prof Soz, Mr Naik said the Water Resources ministry had given an ''in principal'' clearance on April 30, 2002, to the Karnataka Government's proposal for diverting 7.56 TMC of water from Mahadeyi basin to Malaprabha basin to meet the drinking water needs of Hubli and Dharwad cities.

The Goa Government, however, had strongly objected to the project and had requested that a tribunal be set up to settle the dispute.

Following this, the Centre's clearance to the project was kept in abeyance.

Despite the Central abeyance, newspapers have reported that the Karnataka Government is holding a foundation stone laying ceremony for launching the project in the presence of state Chief Minister H D Kumarswami, Deputy Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa, and state Water Resources Minister K H Vishwarappa, Mr Naik said.

He added the major catchment area of 1580 sq km of the Mahadeyi basin falls in Goa, while Karnataka covers 375 sq km. The catchment area in Maharastra is 76 sq km.

Goa has objected to the diversion water from Mahadeyi basin to Malaprabha River which is part of the Krishna basin. As per national guidelines, no water can be diverted from one basin to another without inter-state agreement, Mr Naik added.

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