BELAGAVI: The relentless attempts made by Karnataka government ever since the final award of the Mahadayi Water Dispute Tribunal (MWDT) on August 14, 2018 at last paid off, as the Union government finally notified the tribunal’s final award in the gazette on Thursday.The decades of struggle inside the court and outside which leaders and governments in Karnataka were involved in for the implementation of Mahadayi project to overcome drinking water crisis in the drought-prone areas of North Karnataka besides taking up cogeneration has yielded positive result.
The MWDT has awarded 13.42 tmcft of water to Karnataka under the Mahadayi project which would be diverted to Karnataka from Goa’s mandovi river (also called Mahadayi). The tribunal allowed Karnataka to share 5.5 tmcft of water from Mahadayi river for drinking purpose and another 8.02 per cent of water for hydro electricity generation.
Actually, Karnataka was involved in a long-stretched battle with neighbouring Goa for its share of 36.55 tmc of water under Mahadayi project including 7.56 tmc for drinking water purpose.As per the August 14, 2018 final award of the tribunal, of the 5.5 tmc of water allotted for drinking to Karnataka, 3.80 tmc will be diverted to Malaprabha basin through Kalasa nala (1.18 tmc) and Bandura nala (2.72 tmc) while 1.50 tmc is allotted for in-basin consumption in Khanapur region.
For a long time, the state government had been struggling to find an out-of-court settlement to the dispute involving the other stakeholders in the project _ Goa and Maharashtra - but failed even to find even a temporary solution to it.According to sources, the state government has assured the Centre of submitting a fresh DPR on Mahadayi project once the gazette notification is done. A delegation of ministers from Karnataka which met Union Jalashakti Minister in New Delhi on Wednesday expressed confidence that the Centre would accord environmental clearance to the Kalasa-Banduri project shortly.
Already, the government has completed work on Kalsa nala at Kankumbi, Khanapur taluk and will now take up work on Banduri nala so that the entire share of drinking water could be diverted from Mahadayi river of Goa through Kalasa-Banduri nala before letting it into Malaprabha river.
On the other hand, Goa government is desperately trying to halt Karnataka from implementing the Mahadayi project. An application filed by the Goa government with the apex court to restrain Karnataka from going ahead with Kalasa-Banduri nala project is slated to come up for hearing on March 2. However, the Goa’s legal battle may not help it with the Centre notifying the tribunal’s award today.