Goa opposed Maha’s Virdi dam, now K’taka does too

Keri:Karnataka has opposed the irrigation dam project by Maharashtra across the Kattika nullah in Virdi at the second meeting of the Mahadayi-Prawah held at Bengaluru.
In order to provide drinking and irrigation water to Virdi, Terekhol, Matne, Vazre and other villages of Dodamarg taluka, Konkan division had began the work of the earthen dam in 2006 in Virdi across the Kattika nullah, which joins the Haltara nullah at Kakandyar in Virdi.
When Goa in 2015 brought to the notice of the Mahadayi Water Dispute Tribunal that dam work at Virdi had been started without obtaining the mandatory clearances, the Tribunal had directed Maharashtra to resume work only after obtaining the approvals.
The tribunal in its final award allocated 1.33 tmc feet of water for in-basin use to Maharashtra and it prepared a revised detailed project report of the Virdi dam project that was submitted to the team of Mahadayi-Prawah authority.
However, during the discussion at the Prawah’s second meeting held in Bengaluru, Karnataka came forward to oppose Maharashtra’s dam project at Virdi.
The authority has decided to take up the DPR of the project for deliberation, only after obtaining technical approval from the Central Water Commission.