Bengaluru: Belying the hope that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would intervene in the Mahadayi river dispute and solve the city's drinking water problem, he agreed only to send a Central team to Karnataka to assess the drought.
The prime minister was meeting an all-party delegation from the state led by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. He said Karnataka should talk to the opposition parties in the two states and convince them of the merits of their argument, before he could intervene in the Mahadayi issue or even convene a three state meet.
Mr Siddaramaiah had sought the Prime Minister's intervention for an out-of-tribunal settlement on the Mahadayi River water issue, which concerns the states of Karnataka, Goa and Maharashtra. The State also raised the issue of the Center's assistance to tackle drought in the State, the problems faced by sugarcane growers, grape and pomegranate farmers as well as power shortage. While remaining non-committal on immediate relief to the State, the Prime Minister assured the CM, he would send a Central team to study the drought situation in Karnataka.
Farmers stage a protest at Jubilee Circle in Dharwad to press their demands including immediate implemention of Mahadayi-Malaprabha river-linking project for irrigation and the Kalasa-Banduri nala-linking project for drinking water, on Monday (Photo: KPN)
Sources in the delegation said that the Prime Minister was alone when the delegation called on him. The Chief Minister explained that the plan was to utilise only 7.5 tmc ft of water for drinking purposes, out of 200 tmc available in the entire river basin. He requested Mr Modi to convene a meeting of chief ministers of the three states. Mr Modi said that he would talk to the Chief Ministers of Goa and Maharashtra and asked the Chief Minister to talk to the opposition leaders of the two States and convince them. Mr Siddaramaiah said that if the Prime Minister convened the meeting, the Chief Ministers of the two states would come along with the opposition leaders, as they have to take the opposition into confidence.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Mr Siddaramaiah admitted that the State did not get a positive response from the Prime Minister. “However, I am hopeful that the Prime Minister will call the meeting of three State chief ministers. We want at least the drinking water issue to be settled outside the tribunal. For that, the Union Ministers from the State should prevail upon the Prime Minister. I have asked Mr Ananth Kumar and Mr Sadananda Gowda to prevail upon the Prime Minister and they have assured me that the three State Chief Ministers' meeting will be convened. We will wait and watch,'' he said.
When asked how the Prime Minister can intervene in the issue when the matter was before the court, Mr Siddaramaiah said that there was a precedent. "In 1976, Tamil Nadu, despite not being a riparian state, raked up the issue of Telugu Ganga project. The then Prime Minister Mrs Indira Gandhi intervened and allotted 5 tmc ft of water to Chennai for drinking water.''
Apart from Mahadayi issue, the State has sought 1500 mw additional allocation from the Central grid, as state was reeling under drought. The State also requested the Prime Minister to release Rs 3,050 crore immediately, as there was a crop loss in the State to the tune of over Rs 11,500 crore.
In addition, the State requested for an additional Rs 2,100 crore for making direct payment to sugarcane farmers. The Prime Minister said he would send a central team to look into the issue, Mr Siddaramaiah said.
