The State government on Wednesday filed a contempt petition in the Supreme Court against Karnataka for diverting the waters of Mhadei River by constructing conduits to the Malaprabha basin, in violation of directives of the Apex Court and the Water Dispute Tribunal.
Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar has also written to his Karnataka counterpart H D Kumarswamy informing about the violation by Karnataka.
Speaking to Herald, Water Resources (WRD) Minister Vinod Palyekar said that a contempt petition has been filed in the Supreme Court against Karnataka for diversion of water from Mhadei river to Malaprabha basin.
“Karnataka’s act was in violation of its submission before the Supreme Court and so also the order of the Water Dispute Tribunal,” Minister said.
Palyekar had told the State Assembly, last week, that WRD officials, who had made the site visit had confirmed that the waters from the part of the catchment of the nullah gets diverted through the conduit. The rear end of the conduit was checked and it was observed that water was flowing through two of the three conduits showing that waters from the part of Kalsa basin are being diverted to Malaprabha basin.
Karnataka in its submission before Supreme Court in August, 2017, had assured that it will not undertake any construction work of the Kalsa-Bhandura project in Kankumbi. The submission was made in a petition filed by Mhadei Bachao Abhiyan (MBA).
The Mhadei Water Dispute Tribunal (MWDT), in two separate orders in October 2012 and April 2014, had ordered Karnataka not to divert any waters from the Kalsa Bandura to Malprabha till the award was declared. The Tribunal had then ordered that the two conduits be blocked at chinages 990 mts and 1530 mts respectively and also constituted a team of Superintending Engineers of all the three States to oversee the construction.
The tribunal, which is hearing the inter-state water diversion involving Goa, Karnataka and Maharashtra, is expected to pass its judgment this month.
The Union Ministry of Water Resources on April 30, 2002 had given an in principle clearance to divert 7.56 TMC of water from Kalsa-Bandur project to Hubli-Dharwad for drinking purpose. However, Goa government objected to it and moved before tribunal, who later declined to grant any relief to Karnataka.
