Submit fresh proposal for Kalasa Banduri Project: Centre

Old proposal returned in 2003; new one should be as per Forest Conservation Second Amendment Rules of 2014: MoEF

July 10, 2020 11:33 pm | Updated 11:33 pm IST - BELAGAVI

The Union government has asked the State government to submit a fresh proposal for forest clearance to take up the Kalasa and Banduri Nala Project in the forest areas of Belagavi district.

The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has said that there was no proposal for forest land diversion pending before it. If the State government wants the clearance of a proposal it has to submit it de novo , in an online format through the dedicated portal [parivesh.nic.in] of the Ministry.

In a letter to the Additional Chief Secretary of the Karnataka Water Resources Department — the user agency — the Deputy Inspector General of Forests has said that the old proposal by the State government was returned in 2003, pending resolution of the dispute between Karnataka and Goa.

The fresh proposal should be as per the Forest Conservation Second Amendment Rules of 2014. It should also reflect the changed ground realities that may have taken place in the last two decades, the letter said.

This is a reply to a request by the State Water Resources Department to seek diversion of forest land to the extent of 258 hectares near Kanakumbi village for the Kalasa project and 243 hectares near Nerse village for the Banduri one.

Farmers’ leaders welcome the Centre’s letter. “It is a welcome step in the right direction and it means that the project has been revived,” said Krishik Samaj leader Sidagouda Modagi.

He said it would not only provide drinking water to urban areas and villages in north Karnataka, but also provide water to some farmers along the banks of the Malaprabha.

‘Nothing new’

However, environmentalists differ. “It is nothing new. It does not mean that the Union government has taken any decision regarding the project,” said wildlife activist Giridhar Kulkarni. “The Centre keeps sending such letters to user agencies. It is only a request to send a fresh proposal through the online portal. That is because the government is not accepting any offline proposal since 2014,” he said.

The project, aimed at providing drinking water to Hubballi-Dharwad and nearby areas by diverting 7.56 tmcft from Kalasa and Banduri nalas in the Mahadayi basin to the Malaprabha basin, has been pending for over four decades, owing to opposition from Goa and environment groups. After a prolonged legal battle, the Mahadayi Water Dispute Tribunal (MWDT) delivered its verdict in August 2018.

But it was only after Supreme Court’s direction in February this year that the Union government issued a gazette notification of the verdict clearing the first hurdle.

The Karnataka government needs various permissions from competent authorities to take up work and subsequently it has begun the process of seeking them.

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