Siddaramaiah's confirmation for CM's Mahadayi river dispute meet, but will it help?
Bengaluru: Chief Minister, Siddaramaiah has confirmed his participation in the meeting of chief ministers on Mahadayi river dispute convened by Maharashtra Chief Minister, Devendra Fadnavis next week in Mumbai but sources contend that the meeting may not help serve Karnataka’s interests.
Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, a highly placed source in the government observed that Goa will try to scuttle the chances of this meeting achieving its desired results. "Goa is going to polls next year, in such circumstances, no chief minister, will dare to take decisions that go against the popular will of that state, so, it is highly unlikely that the meeting will succeed," the source explained.
The source added that Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar, may have agreed to attend the meeting as per his BJP counterpart, Mr Fadnavis' letter. The Mahadayi Water Dispute Tribunal, headed by J. M. Panchal, had suggested that the three states - Maharashtra, Goa and Karnataka - resolve the issue through talks with or without third-party mediation, therefore, Mr Parsekar may have agreed to attend this meeting. As a goodwill gesture, Mr Fadnavis had offered to mediate between Karnataka and Goa to resolve the long-standing Mahadayi dispute.
Earlier, Mr Siddarmaiah had written to his counterparts in Maharashtra and Goa and invited them for talks. Apart from this, Mr Siddaramaiah had also written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking his intervention in this matter. All along, both JD(S) and Congress have been demanding the prime minister’s intervention while state BJP leaders have been trying to organise a meeting as the party has high stakes in the North Karnataka region. It is learnt that the BJP top brass instructed the Maharashtra chief minister to mediate and asked the Goa chief minister to attend the meeting.
Fact-sheet on river row
The Mahadayi or Kalasa-Banduri project is undertaken by the state to provide drinking water to Hubballi and Dharwad and for irrigation in parts of Belagavi and Gadag districts.
The project involves building barrages across Kalasa and Banduri, two tributaries of the Mahadayi, to divert 7.56 tmcft of water to the Malaprabha river, which provides water for drinking as well as irrigation to parched areas.
In 2002, the Centre gave clearance to Karnataka to divert the water from Mahadayi. However, the project was stalled after Goa raised objections, saying the project would lead to drying up of Mandovi river, which is called Mahadayi in Karnataka.
The Union Government has constituted the tribunal, which is hearing the matter now.
