Mahadayi protesters set deadline to solve water issue
BENGALURU: Mahadayi protesters on Wednesday set January-end as the deadline for the Karnataka government to amicably solve the Mahadayi river water issue with Goa to meet the drinking water needs of drought-prone areas of northern Karnataka.
The committee, spearheading the stir, said all the three parties -- BJP, Congress and JD(S)-- have to come together to find a solution to the issue.
If that is not possible, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has to lead an all-party delegation, including farmers, to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, it said.
They also warned that a protest would be staged in New Delhi if they did not get justice from the Prime Minister.
“Within January the issue should get resolved, within a week’s time a date has to be fixed,” said Veeresh Sorabadamath, leader of ‘Mahadayi Kalasa Banduri Nala Horata Samanvaya Samiti,’ an umbrella organisation spearheading the agitation.
“If it does not happen thousands of us will sit (in protest) in front of the chief minister’s office,” he told reporters after submitting a memorandum at the chief minister’s home office.
He said if they don’t get justice from the prime minister, then “all of you including the council of ministers should sit in protest in Delhi, in the interest of the state.”
Principal Secretary to the chief minister received the petition on behalf of Siddaramaiah, who is in Chitradurga as part of his pre-scheduled tour across the state to inaugurate government schemes.
Farmers including women from north Karnataka districts staged a protest march to Raj Bhavan and submitted a petition.
They have been protesting near the BJP state office here since Saturday demanding that party state chief B S Yeddyurappa resolve the issue as promised by him last month.
Yeddyurappa, who had promised to get a written agreement by December 15 for resolving the issue, yesterday tried to convince farmers, citing a letter written to him by Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar but did not succeed.
The protesters also submitted a memorandum addressed to former prime minister H D Deve Gowda at the JD(S) office here. Karnataka, which has locked horns with neighbouring Goa on sharing Mahadayi river water, is seeking release of 7.56 tmcft for the Kalasa-banduri Nala project.