The Mhadei muddle
FREDDY DIAS
The statement of Karnataka’s Rural Development Minister H K Patil that the Karnataka government is initiating measures to complete the controversial Kalsa-Bhandura water diversion project at the earliest, as reported by Herald last week, is most disturbing. Mr Patil, among other things, is reported to have emphasized that the Union government and the Mhadei River Water Dispute Tribunal (MEWDT) should take a serious note of about 200 TMCM (thousand million cubic metres) of water in Kalsa and Bhandura rivulets flowing to Goa being wasted and further disclosing his government’s plan to submit a modified affidavit before the Tribunal. This would throw up a fresh challenge to the Goa government to sit up and face the situation with a little more seriousness.
The Karnataka government, since 2006, is hellbent on proceeding with its plan to build dams on the Kalsa and Bhanduri tributaries feeding the Mhadei river. ln fact, work on diverting the water of the Kalsa tributary to the Malaprabha basin of the Krishna river had already been started by the Karnataka Neeravari Nigam Ltd (KNNL), despite the Karnataka government’s assurance to the Supreme Court regarding maintaining status quo in the matter. Besides, the work recently extended into areas of reserved forest and agriculture fields in Kankumbi, in defiance of the Union government’s mandate that prior approval of the Ministry of Environment and Forest is necessary to carry out any non-forest activities in forest areas.
The project, envisaging the excavation of a canal across a large forest area in Kankumbi to link the Kalsa tributary of the Mhadei River to Malaprabha basin has been in progress over the last few years. The work on the project has already caused substantial damage to the reserve forest area in Kankumbi due to indiscriminate felling of trees and dumping of massive quantities of excavated mud, in gross violation of the Forest Conservation Act of 1980, as well as the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972. There are reports that the Karnataka government has also erected a concrete batching plant upstream of the Kalsa, indicating that it wants to expedite completion of the work for the Mhadei river water diversion project even against the directions of the apex court.
The Mhadei river originates in Karnataka and becomes the Mandovi river past Ganjem village in Goa. The Karnataka government’s project has been widely criticized in Goa over the unauthorised inter-basin transfer of water from the Mhadei basin to the Malaprabha basin. The ecology of the Mhadei basin is already very fragile on account of massive deforestation and quarrying in Khanapur district of Karnataka. Besides, the Mhadei basin falls in the Western Ghats, a biodiversity hotspot.
Environmentalists in Goa as well as in Karnataka have pointed out that the Bhimgarh-Krishnapur limestone caves on the Goa-Karnataka border are the only shelter left in the world today for the rare Wroughton’s free-tailed bats. The Mhadei river basin supports unexplored flora and fauna. The Mhadei’s catchment in Karnataka must be left undisturbed or else there would be a drastic change in the ecology and the flora and fauna of the basin. Environmentalists contend that for Goa, the freshwater flows from the catchment in Karnataka are essential to maintain the delicate balance between the saline estuarine zone from Aguada to Ganjem and the freshwater zone beyond Ganjem.
The Mhadei/Mandovi is an interstate river basin, draining areas in Karnataka, Maharashtra and Goa. The Karnataka government has a proposal to construct a number of dams of varying sizes in Karnataka across the Mhadei river and its tributaries feeding the Mandovi portion of the river in Goa. The basin (1,580 sq km in Goa) occupies 42.70 per cent of the total area of the state. The Mhadei river in Karnataka is joined by three important tributaries, namely the Bali Nadi, the Kotni Nadi and the Bhandura. There are five important tributaries forming the Mandovi portion of the river in Goa, namely Surla, Ragda, Dicholi, Mapusa and Khandepar (or Dudhsagar).
According to environmentalists, diversion of water from the Kalsa and Bhandura tributaries of the Mhadei river to Malaprabha basin, besides disturbing the existing general ecological balance in Goa, will gravely affect the flow of water to the Volsota river in Satari taluka. The Mandovi Irrigation Project will be the first victim of such a diversion. The diversion of the water from Mhadei river is expected to reduce the flow of water in the Mandovi river and affect barge movement. The existing lift irrigation schemes too will be rendered useless. Sanquelim water supply will also be affected. The diversion will have repercussions on the change in salinity levels, on flora, fauna and fishing, create accumulation of salt in the rivers of Goa, endanger water transport in the state and affect social aspects of the region. At present, it has been reported that the water table of the Mandovi river has already fallen.
In the present case, though the Central government had unilaterally granted in principle permission to divert 7.56 TMC water from the Mhadei river to the Malaprabha basin, the Goa government had objected and the clearance was kept in abeyance. Goa has requested the Centre to constitute a judicial tribunal under the Interstate Water Dispute Act of 1956. The Union government has not heeded this request.
ln September 2006, the Karnataka government laid a foundation stone for the project, and started the work. Goa was left with no other option but to approach the Supreme Court praying for necessary directions to the Union government to constitute a Mhadei River Water Dispute Tribunal as provided under Section 4 of the Interstate River Water Dispute Act, 1936.
Goa also prayed that the Supreme Court direct the Union agencies not to give clearance of financial aid to the disputed project to set aside the in-principle clearance granted to Karnataka by the Union Ministry for Water resources and to direct Karnataka not to proceed with planning and construction of any project in the Mhadei river basin until the disputes were resolved by the tribunal constituted for the purpose.
Though the Goa government had prayed for a stay order in the matter before the Supreme Court, Goa’s position has been problematic since there is no written stay granted by the Court. Therefore, there are reports that the work for diversion of water from Mhadei river to the Malaprabha basin is going on in full swing. The Apex Court, however, directed the Union government to constitute the Mhadei River Water Dispute Tribunal, but the functioning of the tribunal was delayed inordinately for over two years due to the lackadaisical attitude of the authorities responsible for providing necessary infrastructure, including office space to conducting the hearings on the matter.
In fact, the Mhadei River Water Dispute Tribunal had started its hearings in the matter in Delhi from September 6, 2012.
The future of Goa’s fragile ecology directly depends on the Mhadei catchment and, therefore, the Goa government and the people of the state in general must oppose the Karnataka government’s evil designs of diverting the Mhadei water tooth and nail.
