While the protests against Subhash Velingkar dominated headlines over the past few days, the news of Karnataka resuming Mhadei water diversion works went unnoticed, and surprisingly even WRD Minister Subhash Shirodkar was clueless about the development. It was reported that in Nerse village near Khanapur, the Karnataka Neeravari Nigam Limited (KNNL) had started laying pipelines as part of the water diversion plan despite the fact there are no permissions granted by the National Board of Wildlife (NBW).
Going by the works on site -- the signboards and pipelines that have been put up in the forested areas along the Bhandara Nalla, it is evident that Karnataka is going ahead with its plans to divert water. In March, there was a large-scale felling of trees at the site inside the notified forest area while digging deep channels at Kankumbi was also going on. Although the Goa government has raised the issue, there have been no deterrents to these illegalities from the neighbour. What makes it worse is that the PRAWAH team which visited various sites during the monsoon, have not made a strong case against diversion and the Goan populace is yet to find its confidence in the Authority.
It may be noted, that for any diversion to happen, Karnataka still requires forest clearances from the National Board of Wildlife and the Goa State Board for Wildlife. Interestingly, the NBW has declined to grant wildlife clearance for the Kalsa Nala diversion project citing an ongoing legal battle in the Supreme Court undertaken by Goa and other states. While the matter is in Supreme Court with a bunch of contempt petitions still to be disposed of, Goa appears to have lowered its guard with the department failing to keep a tab on developments on the other side.
The discourse on Mhadei has been far and wide across Goa with political leaders across the spectrum aligning with the thought of a united fight. The issue has been figuring prominently at successive State Legislative Assembly sessions where the government has been easing fears of the State losing out to Karnataka given their stronger influence at the Centre.
On the ground, the Mhadei ambition pales out in Goa against the developments taking place in Karnataka. When Shirodkar was informed of diversion works being resumed, he appeared clueless but added that he would depute teams to inspect the areas. Moreover, the House Committee on Mhadei has met only once since the time it was formed. Our solidarity towards the issue has been patchy and the State has no real-time data on what Karnataka is doing. It may be recalled that the Supreme Court maintained that no water diversion could happen without obtaining all permissions. Even Karnataka had assured the top court that it would not go ahead with works without the requisite permissions.
To Goa’s advantage, environmentalists in Karnataka, including NGOs have begun a campaign to create awareness on the diversion of Mhadei and have stated that it will have an adverse impact on the environment damaging the thick bio-diverse forest in the region and also trigger climate change.
In view of the recent developments in the Mhadei region, the Goa government must understand the need to stay vigilant at all times and take immediate recourse. Belatedly waking up to the news of the resumption of diversion work does not speak well of our intent to take on Karnataka over the issue. The neighbouring state has been in a state of denial right through even though they were on the job. Goa needs to step up its fight for Mhadei.
