In an ongoing initiative, Karnataka has asked Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar to indicate a tentative date for holding a meeting between Karnataka, Goa and Maharashtra Chief Ministers for resolving the long pending Mahadayi water dispute.
The Mahadayi tribunal has asked the three States to settle the issue amicably. In an effort to find a solution, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has written a letter to his Goa counterpart Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar seeking a date for a meeting of the three Chief Ministers of Karnataka, Maharashtra and Goa.
In a letter written by Siddaramaiah on Wednesday to Parrikar, has appealed for a tentative date for peaceful resolution of the water dispute between the three riparian States.
Meanwhile, responding to a letter of invitation to hold talks over the issue by Siddaramaiah, Devendra Fadnavis has sought tentative dates that are convenient to Chief Ministers of all three States. He said, “I appreciate your initiative for organising a meeting of Chief Ministers of three States in response to the possibility of arriving at an amicable solution to the pending issue of Inter State Mahadayi Basin Water Distribution.”
Siddaramaiah wrote to his Goa counterpart Manohar Parrikar seeking tentative dates of his availability for the meeting after Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis expressed his willingness for the meeting on his request for it.
In his letter to Parrikar, Siddaramaiah said, the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, the third riparian State, has sought tentative dates to organise the meeting.
“Hon’ble Chief Minister of Maharashtra appreciating the need to have a meeting amongst us (Karnataka, Goa and Maharashtra) to resolve the Mahadayi Water dispute amicably in a friendly environment has been kind enough to respond to my letter and has sought tentative dates to organise the meeting,” he said in his letter to Parrikar.
“Therefore, I request you to indicate your convenience, so that a meeting could be organised amongst us at a mutually convenient date/time,” he added.
This is the second such attempt to bring the chief ministers of three riparian states on the same table for discussion. The first similar meeting in October last year did not succeed.
The Mahadayi Water Disputes Tribunal had last September asked the states concerned to resolve the water dispute amicably by holding discussions.
Karnataka had earlier petitioned the tribunal seeking the release of 7.56 tmcft of water for the Kalasa-Banduri Nala project. But it was rejected in an interim order on July 27, resulting in violent protests in North Karnataka.
The Kalasa-Banduri project is being undertaken by Karnataka to improve drinking water supply to the twin cities of Hubballi-Dharwad and the districts of Belagavi and Gadag.
With hardly any progress in the efforts to find a solution to the Mahadayi water sharing row, Janata Dal (Secular) has decided to give momentum to the ongoing agitation by holding a day-and-night dharna at Naviluteerth and Kanakumbi in Belagavi district.
The Karnataka government proposes to divert some water from the Mahadayi river to the Malaprabha river basin as part of the Kalasa-Banduri Nala project, as approximately 200 tmc feet of water flows into the Arabian Sea now without being used for anything.
The Mahadayi Water Disputes Tribunal had suggested an out of court agreement between the three riparian states on the issue. The Congress government in Karnataka, stuck between two BJP governments in Goa and Maharashtra had been pushing for talks to solve the issue amicably.
In 2016, Fadnavis had taken the initiative to host the Chief Ministers’ meeting but had backtracked at the last moment. This time Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has taken the initiative of organising the meet.
Mahadayi is going to be a major issue in North Karnataka districts in the ensuing assembly polls and it is crucial for the ruling congress government in the state to keep the ball rolling. eom/blr