The Supreme Court on Monday upheld the apex court’s interim order in 2014 regarding the Mahadayi water dispute between Goa and Karnataka. The apex court disposed of the Goa government’s petition for a stay against the Kalasa-Banduri project.
On Friday, the Goa government had approached the Supreme Court seeking a stay order on the construction of the Kalasa-Banduri Project. Earlier on February 20, the Goa government had approached the apex court requesting interim relief from implementing the Mahadayi Water Disputes Tribunal’s order dated August 14, 2018.
The Apex Court bench of justices DY Chandrachud and Ajay Rastogi said that the Kalasa-Banduri project can start after the Karnataka government obtains necessary clearances.
“The Karnataka government must prepare a fresh detailed project report and obtain necessary permission from the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change. They must obtain Environmental Clearance and also a technical clearance from the Central Water Commission according to the 2014 interim order. This was upheld today,” one of the lawyers representing Karnataka told TNM.
The court also upheld that the Mahadayi Water Management Authority must be constituted and that the Detailed Project Report must be approved by this authority before the Kalasa-Banduri project construction begins.
Speaking to TNM, Vijay Kulkarni, who started the fight for the Kalasa-Banduri project in Gadag’s Nargund, says that the Supreme Court’s verdict is welcome, but said that the project construction must begin immediately.
“When we started our protest, it was for the construction of six canals across the Ghataprabha and Malaprabha rivers, both of which are tributaries of Mahadayi. We wanted the government to construct the project so the parched areas in north Karnataka get 8 TMC of drinking water. EC and other clearances are not necessary for drinking water projects so the central government must grant permission to begin construction immediately,” he said.
In 1980, Vijay Kulkarni along with farmers of Nargund in Gadag and Navalgund in Dharwad began the movement demanding drinking water in the water-scarce regions of North Karnataka.
The state government, had in 1980 collected a betterment fee from the people for drinking water but had not provided any. When the agitation began, the then Chief Minister, Gundu Rao, formed a committee to come up with a solution. This was headed by the then Leader of Opposition SR Bommai. The SR Bommai Committee recommended the linking of Mahadayi river to the Malaprabha river through the Kalasa-Banduri project after holding consultations with the protesters.
The Centre on February 26, notified the Mahadayi Water Disputes Tribunal’s order dated August 14, 2018 which allocated 13.41 TMC of water from the Mahadayi River to Karnataka. On February 27, Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa announced that monetary allocation would be made for the Kalasa-Banduri project during the 2020-21 budget, which will be presented on March 5. The Goa government had sought the stay order after Yediyurappa’s announcement.