BELAGAVI
Amid attempts by Karnataka to implement the controversial Kalsa-Bhandura water diversion project, environmentalists from Karnataka have planned a rally on Tuesday as part of efforts to halt the project.
They claimed that the water diversion would have an adverse irreversible impact on the entire ecology bordering Western Ghats bordering Karnataka and Goa.
Noted climate activist of global repute Ridhima Pandey will be joining a protest rally in Belagavi on Tuesday against the implementation of Kalsa Bhandura water diversion project, said Capt Nitin Dhond who is spearheading the rally.
Urging people to unite in protecting the forests and ecology, Capt. Dhond along with his team has been running from pillar to post to mobilise the support for the cause while highlighting the irreparable damage which the Kalsa Bhandura project would cause to the western ghats if it is implemented to divert water from the Mhadei to Malaprabha basin.
The environmentalists have successfully mobilised the support of people, leaders, religious heads, politicians, etc. cutting across all the barriers.
Emphasising on the theme “Our Water Our Right”, the environmentalists have been trying to persuade people in the region that the diversion of river water would adversely affect the natural course of rivers.
“Water from rivers like Aghanashini and Mhadei eventually flowed into the sea and it would not cause any kind of harm as it was a natural process. Mhadei and its tributaries like Kalsa, Bhandura and Haltar flowing through the forests kept the forest greener beside ensuring water to all the wild animals. Thousands of hectares of forest land and vegetation including the flora and fauna would be destroyed due to the implementation of Kalsa-Bhandura water diversion project besides the desertification of the North Karnataka region,” Capt. Dhond lamented.
Raising serious concern, environmentalist Dilip Kamat said there was a need for the regular flow of river water in the forests.
The rally on Tuesday is being held as a united effort to stop attempts to damage flora and fauna in the western ghats and to explain to the people of Belagavi and Khanapur that the region would not get a drop of water from the Kalsa-Bhandura water diversion project, a fact ascertained by a senior Karnataka bureaucrat recently.
