THE GOAN NETWORK
BELAGAVI
After a hearing on the dispute between Goa and Karnataka on the controversial Kalsa-Bhandura water diversion project in Delhi last week, the Mhadei Water Disputes Tribunal (MWDT) has assured Karnataka that a judgement would be delivered at the earliest.
While Karnataka's Minister for Water Resources M B Patil has suggested that “speedy adjudication” could be a matter of months, Kalasa-Bhandura Kendra Horata Samiti President Vijay Kulkarni has claimed it is impossible for the tribunal to deliver a verdict by August 2016, when its period ends.
Speaking to The Goan, Karnataka's Minister for Water Resources M B Patil said the Advocate General of Karnataka Nishant Patil and a team of advocates had presented a special plea with the tribunal during the hearing for the speedy adjudication of the dispute.
The Karnataka delegation had brought to the notice of the tribunal the year long agitations being held by the farmers in north Karnataka region demanding the immediate implementation of the issue.
“We had highlighted about the intensified agitations being staged by farmers in the districts of Gadag, Hubballi-Dharwad and Belagavi, demanding water from the Mhadeyi River. The severe drought situation including the drinking water crisis in north Karnataka was also brought to the notice of the tribunal,” M B Patil told The Goan.
“Justice J M Panchal responded positively to Karnataka’s appeal for speedy disposal and assured that the dispute would be adjudged at the earliest by increasing the frequency of the hearings on the issue, so that the matter is resolved at the earliest,” he added.
The minister also refuted reports by a certain section of media stating that the tribunal would be resolving the issue within a year.
“Speedy adjudication could be within a matter of a couple of months, say even three or six months also,” said Patil, stating that the tribunal was perhaps misinterpreted.
However, the farming organizations in north Karnataka have demanded the cancellation of the tribunal, after expressing unhappiness over a delay in delivering its judgement.
The Kalasa-Bhandura Kendra Horata Samiti President Vijay Kulkarni has demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should cancel the Mahadayi Water Disputes Tribunal, considering its poor progress in resolving the issue.
“PM Modi should make efforts to resolve the issue through mediation,” Kulkarni told The Goan. “Though the tribunal was constituted in 2010, it commenced functioning only in 2012. In the recent hearing, Karnataka has submitted about 80 cross-examination questions, but only 30 were examined and answered. As the tribunal is still in cross-examination process, it is impossible to deliver a verdict by August 2016, when its period ends,” he said.
“In case if the Prime Minister and MPs from the state do not respond to the Samiti's demand, we will stage a hunger strike at Jantar Mantar in Delhi,” Kulkarni warned.
