Belagavi: Two days after Goa Water Resources Minister, Vinod Palyekar abused the people of Karnataka, calling them "harami" and accused the state government of acting in contempt of court by resuming work on the Mahadayi project, Water Resources Minister, M B Patil rubbished his claims and in turn accused the BJP of indulging in a "maha drama" to divert people's attention from its shortcomings in the run- up to the assembly polls.
The Minister clarified that acting on the Supreme Court's order of last August, the state government had halted work on Mahadayi project at Kankumbi. Daring the Goa government to file a contempt of court case against Karnataka, Mr Patil, who was visiting the site of the Mahadayi project at Kankumbi, added, "We have built two check walls that prevent us from diverting water from Mahadayi through the Kalsa nala to the Malaprabha basin. Let any expert committee from the CWC come and check the Mahadayi project site. We will expose the lies of the Goa government and other BJP leaders on Mahadayi before the tribunal when the case comes up in February."
Also, strongly condemning the "filthy statements" of Mr Palyekar and demanding an apology from him, Mr Patil objected to him visiting the Mahadayi site in Karnataka and claimed he was enacting "the drama " at the prodding of BJP national chief, Amit Shah, its state chief, B S Yeddyurappa and Goa Chief Minister, Manohar Parrikar.
The Minister noted that of the 200 tmcft of water in the Mahadayi basin, around 40 to 50 tmcft was produced in Karnataka territory. As Goa was a tiny state, it was using merely 7 to 8 tmc ft of water and the rest entered the sea. So when the state desperately needed 7.56 tmcft of water from Mahadayi , he said he did not see why it could not be released in these circumstances.
