PANJIM: Putting up a strong case against Karnataka government’s claim that Hubli-Dharwad districts are reeling under a ‘water scarcity’ and ‘drought’ like situation, the Goa government has exposed the fact that lakhs of litres of water from Malaprabha basin have been released daily by the Karnataka Water Board to Pepsico unit in Dharwad.
The State, in its affidavit before the Water Dispute Tribunal, strongly objecting to Karnataka’s plea to divert 7000 million cubic feet (TMC ) of water annually from the Mhadei basin to the Malaprabha basin during the monsoon, has said that the fresh movement is nothing but politically motivated.
“The State of Goa submits that the application for interim relief has been filed by the State of Karnataka only to please the politicians and the so called agitators which is evident on their own showing in as much as the State of Karnataka has only relied on the newspaper reports to demonstrate the alleged drought,” the affidavit filed on Monday reads.
“It is thus submitted that when the trial has reached such an advanced stage and is progressing towards its final determination, then there is no question of entertaining any such interim application as prayed for by the State of Karnataka,” the State government pointed out.
Karnataka, in an intervention application filed in December last year, had said it wants to lift water to meet irrigation requirements, drinking water requirements, in drought-hit areas of the Malaprabha basin.
“The claim of the State of Karnataka that the Districts of Hubli-Dharwad area are reeling under water scarcity is difficult to be accepted for the simple reason that the Pepsico unit in Dharwad is being supplied with 4 lakh litres of Malaprabha water every day by the Karnataka Water Board,” Goa stated.
“Indeed, there is an agreement between the Karnataka Water Board wherein they were to supply 2 lakh litres of water every day to Pepsico’s Dharwad unit, however, the unit now receives 4 lakh litres of water every day that too for a paltry sum. There were agitations, complaints about supply of water to multinationals which indeed has caused the so-called alleged scarcity of water,” it added.
Goa stated that the 4 lakh litres per day would satisfy the daily household domestic requirement of 16,000 people in the district.
Further, it pointed out that extensive sugarcane cultivation in the district requires 160 TMC of water, which is being pumped from ground water leaving the aquifers dry and it is this over exploitation of the groundwater that has resulted in water scarcity in the Hubli-Dharwad region.
“It has always been the case that public interest demands that there should be no interference with judicial process and the effect of the judicial decision should not be pre-empted or circumvented by public agitation and press publications,” Goa claimed. Pleading for dismissal of the interim application, the State said that Karnataka, for filing such applications that to at a belated stage, which are frivolous, on a specious plea of a so-called drought, must be repelled with the contempt it deserves and must be saddled with heavy costs for attempting to protract the hearings of the main dispute by filing such applications.
