Watch out for the Mhadei backlash
Be prepared. The backlash has started. Opposition to the Supreme Court’s recent order that the Centre should set up a Mhadai River Water Trubunal to resolve the dispute between Goa and Karnataka over the latter’s proposed water diversion project on the Kalasa and Bandura rivers, both tributaries of the Mhadei, is being systematically stoked.
On Friday, activists of the Narayan Gowda faction of the Karnataka Rakshana Vedike (KRV), led by district president Rajeev Topannavar, blocked the Haripriya Express at Belgaum Railway Station for about 15 minutes. KRV activists squatted on the tracks and shouted slogans against the formation of the tribunal. BJP leaders have been openly saying that the order for setting up the tribunal is ‘biased’.
The position of Karnataka in this matter usually revolves around the constant refrain that this is a vital project for irrigation and drinking water for the people of north Karnataka, whereas the river water is of “no major use” for Goa, which “wastes” most of the water, letting it flow into the Arabian Sea. This is rubbish. Karnataka is not going to use Mhadei water for those who live along the river’s course. It plans to divert the water from this west-flowing river into the Malprabha, a tributary of the Krishna, which flows eastwards. This kind of inter-basin transfer is not allowed, and Karnataka knows this well. That is why it has disguised this project as being for ‘drinking water’, to make it gain priority. This kind of deception will be crystal clear before a tribunal, which is why it is doing everything within its power to scuttle it.
This includes threats. The KRV leader has warned us that since Goa depends “entirely on Karnataka” for essential commodities like vegetables, foodgrains, milk, meat, etc, it should not oppose the project “to avoid problems in future”. This is not an empty boast.
When the Cauvery River Tribunal delivered an interim award that Karnataka felt was ‘unfair’ in 1991, the KRV engineered anti-Tamil riots in Bangalore, and thousands of Tamils had to flee the city. In the course of the Cauvery river dispute, the state has, on more than one occasion, wilfully flouted Supreme Court orders!
The KRV’s hate campaign will be concentrated in Belgaum, Hubli and Dharwad, all places with a close connection to Goa. It is capable of unbelievable levels of violence, especially since the Karnataka government is inclined to look the other way. This can get really ugly. The Goa government and the Goan people need to be prepared.
Critical review
Finally, sense has dawned. The proposal to declare the Dr Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary as a Critical Wildlife Habitat (CWH) is finally on hold. Despite intense protests and apprehensions raised by the local people, the Forest Department, hell-bent on declaring all wildlife sanctuaries in the state as CWHs, had thus far completely ignored their sentiments and were pushing ahead with the proposal in gross violation of the guidelines laid down by the Centre on the issue.
We criticise politicians, but at least they are accountable to the people once every five years. Bureaucrats – like the officials who run the Forest Department – are accountable to nobody.
Minister for Forests Philip Nery Rodrigues told a delegation of Chorao villagers on Friday that the CWH process will be kept on hold, and the issue will be discussed before Chief Minister Digamber Kamat. He promised that the decision would not be forced on the villagers, who are rightfully apprehensive that a CWH would deprive them of all their rights in the area. Hopefully, the minister’s decision will apply to all the areas that the Forest Department wants declared as CWHs.
