Mahadayi: NK districts unite in protest

Farmers and Kannada leaders ask State government to appeal in the SC

Agitated:Farmers staging a protest in Raichur on Thursday against the rejection of the State’s plea for an interim order in the Mahadayi row.— PHOTO: SANTOSH SAGAR

Various organisations, including the Karnataka Rakshana Vedike (KRV) and the Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha (KRRS), staged demonstrations outside the office of the Deputy Commissioner here on Thursday opposing the verdict of the Mahadayi Water Dispute Tribunal.

KRV activists, who attempted to lay siege to the office of Raichur Lok Sabha member B.V. Naik, were detained by the police and later released.

Earlier, they burnt an effigy representing the Goa government at Gandhi Circle.

“The order is an injustice to Karnataka. The tribunal has failed to understand the severity of the water crisis in parts of North Karnataka. The verdict will widen the gap between Goa and Karnataka and cause hatred between the people of these States. Prime Minister Narendra Modi should intervene and resolve the issue cordially,” Ashok Kumar Jain, a KRV leader, said.

KRRS activists, led by its State president Chamarasa Malipatil, submitted a memorandum demanding that the State government go the Supreme Court against the tribunal order.

“It is unfortunate that Karnataka’s plea for 7 tmcft water for drinking and irrigational purposes was turned down by the tribunal.

The verdict is in continuation to the injustice meted out to the State in water sharing issues.”

The State government must have failed to convince the tribunal,” Mr. Malipatil said during the protest.

In Kalaburagi

Kalaburagi correspondent reports:

Members of the Karnataka Pranth Raitha Sangha staged protest in front of the Deputy Commissioners’ office in Kalaburagi and burnt an effigy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the tribunal’s verdict. Maruti Manpade, the State president of the Sangha, expressing displeasure over the tribunal’s verdict on Thursday rejecting the interim plea by Karnataka to use 7 tmcft of water from the basin, said the State has been deprived of its share of Mahadayi water. He said the tribunal should have directed the Goa government to release at least 2 tmcft of water to Karnataka.

The amendment to the national water policy would have helped Karnataka to get its due share, he added. Mr. Manpade also said that the Union government had failed the people by not calling a meeting of the three riparian States — Karnataka, Goa and Maharashtra — to find an amicable solution to the dispute.