In a statement which exposes the widening rift in the alliance Government in Goa, the State’s Water Resources Minister Vinod Palienkar on Wednesday said that Goa will not share a drop of water with Karnataka, while claiming that the letter written by Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar to Karnataka BJP leader BS Yeddyurappa last week was a political drama, ahead of the upcoming polls in the Southern State.
Parrikar’s letter offering to consider the Southern State’s demand for ‘drinking water’ on ‘humanitarian grounds’ last week to the Karnataka party colleague, following a meeting with BJP president Amit Shah had stoked a series of protestations in both States, with now farmers also joining the protests accusing the BJP of trying to politicise the water shortage issue in the northern regions of Karnataka.
“As Water Resources Minister I have made my stand clear. Whatever he (Parrikar) has written (in the letter) he has not sent me. You ask him. If he has sent it to Karnataka, I can only comment, that it must be a political stunt, therefore he sent the letter. I do not want to say anything more about that,” Palienkar told reporters in Panaji.
“Our stand is very clear and simple. My party has also the same stand. Mahadayi is our mother. Keeping this in mind, we will not compromise on the Mahadayi issue. For us there is only one source (of water) Mahadayi. and if that source goes, we will be in trouble, therefore every drop of Mahadayi is of importance,” Palienkar also said.
On Wednesday, Karnataka witnessed a series of protests organised by the two national parties accusing each other of mishandling the Mahadayi dispute. Farmers also staged protests of their own accusing the parties of trying to hijack the issue and turning it political.
Protesters in Karnataka also blocked roads leading to Goa from morning through afternoon on Wednesday.
Goa, Karnataka and Maharashtra are currently battling a dispute over the controversial Kalsa-Bhandura dam project across the waters of the Mahadayi river at a central tribunal.
Mahadayi also known as the Mandovi river, is known as a lifeline in the northern parts of the State. It originates in Karnataka and meets the Arabian Sea in Panaji in Goa, while briefly flowing through the territory of Maharashtra.
While the river runs 28.8 km in Karnataka, it is 81.2 km in length in the State Goa.
Karnataka also aims to build seven dams at various points along the river, aimed with an objective to divert the flow into what it claims is the water-starved Malaprabha basin in north Karnataka. The State has demanded that Goa should allow the transfer of over seven TMC water to tide over its irrigation and drinking water needs.
Governments across party lines, over the last decade and more have stated as a matter of policy, that diversion of the Mahadayi or the Mandovi river would sound a death knell to the northern areas of the State, which are dependent on the river for fishing, irrigation and potable water supply.