DANDELI: The residents of Dandeli and Joida have been opposing the ongoing diversion work of the Kali river, which has allegedly been guised as a drinking water project, noting that the entire exercise will be harmful to the river, biodiversity and the people of the region.
On one hand, tourism provides for the livelihood of the locals, as the river is considered ideal for eco-tourism. Funds are being promised to ramp up the required infrastructure. The Kali Tiger Reserve, with its increasing number of felines and sizable prey base and diversity, is tipped to be amongst the best landscapes in the Sahyadri biosphere.
Ravindra Redkar, ‘Kali Brigade fighting for conservation’ convenor, and the people here alleged, “There have been huge one metre diameter pipes being dumped in various parts of the taluk. We do not believe that these are drinking water projects. This is aimed at supplying water for industries or for massive scale irrigation projects.”
Pramod Sapre, an activist said, “Though the government officials say that the water project is aimed at providing drinking water to Alnavar town, the locals refuse to buy this story because Alnavar hardly has a population of 17,000. They have several water bodies there, which not only caters to their drinking water requirements, but also meets up to their irrigational needs.”
Redkar added, “The project itself is unscientific and will drain the river in a few years. These backwaters with the water near Joida have been an eyesore for the people. They believe that there is plenty of water in the river. However, the fact is that these reservoirs have come up submerging 47 villages and the water seen is that the reservoirs must maintain a dead storage level. This river has been dammed at six places.”