Prawah inspects Maha Mhadei basin, K’taka next

Keri: After two days of visiting the Goa part of the Mhadei basin, members of Mahadayi-Prawah on Saturday inspected Virdi basin in Dodamarg taluka of Maharashtra. In Virdi, Konkan irrigation division of Maharashtra has completed major work on the earthen dam across the Kattika nullah, 7km away from Goa’s border without obtaining mandatory clearances.
On Sunday, the Prawah team has scheduled to visit the areas of Kalasa-Bhandura sites in Karnataka.
Meanwhile Karnataka social activist, Ashok Chandargi, has opposed the visit of Prawah team, stating that the Mhadei matter is sub judice. Some organisations from Belagavi and North Karnataka too have urged chief minister Siddaramaiah to restrain the team visit on July 7.
The Prawah is carrying out the inspections as per Goa’s demand. As per the final award given by the Mahadayi Water Dispute Tribunal, Maharashtra has been allocated 1.3 TMC feet of water. However, Maharashtra govt, unilaterally without informing the riparian state, from 2006 began the work of damming and successfully completed the major work on the project.
On Saturday, the chairperson of Mahadayi-Prawah P M Scott, along with the other members, visited the Kattika nullah dam site and the proposed project sites of the Haltara nullah, Morachi rai and Dhangarwadi. Superintending engineer of Sindhudurg circle of WRD, Vijay Kumar Thorat explained the proposals of Maharashtra’s damming aimed at in-basin use of water.
Kattika nullah is a tributary on which water treatment plants of Sanquelim and Padoshe along with the lift irrigation schemes are already operational. The Haltara nullah emerges from the reserve forests of Ambekhol in Chorla, where Karnataka Neeravari Nigam Ltd has proposed a dam and diversion of the water into its Malaprabha basin. From Chorla, the Haltara nullah flows down from a height of 147m as the waterfalls of Vazra Sakhala in Virdi, where Maharashtra too proposes damming and diversion.