'No work on Kalasa Bandura project till forest nod'

The High Court on Thursday disposed of a petition challenging work on the Kalasa Bandura project to supply water to Hubli-Dharwad and other 13 towns, after the State government submitted that no work would be taken up in the forest areas till clearance was obtained from the Union Ministry for Environment and Forests (MoEF).

Hearing a petition by Ravendra Kumar Saini, an ex-army officer from Belgaum, the division bench comprising K Sreedhar Rao and Justice Abdul Nazeer disposed of the petition.

It observed, “The State admits that there is no clearance from MoEF as required under the Forest Conservation Act. Since the entire project also needs clearance from the National Board of Wildlife, the Karnataka Neeravari Nigama (respondent-3) will initiate the project after obtaining necessary clearance.”

The petitioner contended that the project will deplete the water flow into the Mandovi (Mahadayi) river, which is a major source of water in Goa. The project will also affect the wildlife sanctuary of Bhimgad, where over 700 hectares area of forest will be submerged and about 60,000 trees destroyed.

However, the State government submitted that the work was taken up only in non-forest area to draw water from the Kalasa Haltar reservoir.

The State said that there is no objection if water is drawn from the Haltar river. Even the water tribunal, which says that Karnataka has no share in the Mandovi river water, does not object to drawing water from Haltar river. However, the counsel for the petitioner said that the work could not be undertaken in part and piece.

The petitioner contended that the Kalasa Bandura work is a clear violation of the forest and environment protection laws.