Siddaramaiah seeks meet with Parrikar on Mahadayi river row

Bengaluru, Jul 13: Karnataka has sought a meeting with its two other riparian states Goa and Maharashtra for an amicable resolution of the Mahadayi Waterdispute among them.

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah wrote to his Goa counterpart Manohar Parrikar seeking tentative dates of his availability for the meeting after Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis expressed his willingness for the meeting on his request for it.

In his letter to Parrikar, Siddaramaiah said the chief minister of Maharashtra, the third riparian state, has sought tentative dates to organise the meeting.

"Hon'ble chief minister of Maharashtra appreciating the need to have a meeting amongst us (Karnataka, Goa and Maharashtra) to resolve the Mahadayi Water dispute amicably ina friendly environment has been kind enough to respond to myletter and has sought tentative dates to organise the meeting," he said in his letter to Parrikar.

"Therefore, I request you to indicate your convenience, so that a meeting could be organised amongst us at a mutually convenient date/time," he added.

Taking the initiative, Siddaramaiah on May 30 hadwritten to his Maharashtra counterpart Devendra Fadnavis for organising a meeting of the three chief ministers.

This is the second such attempt to bring the chief ministers of three riparian states on the same table for discussion. The first similar meeting in October last year did not succeed.

The Mahadayi Water Disputes Tribunal had last September asked the states concerned to resolve the waterdispute amicably by holding discussions.

The Karnataka government, which has locked horns with theneighboring Goa on the larger issue of sharing Mahadayi Riverwater between both the states, had earlier petitioned thetribunal seeking the release of 7.56 tmcft of water for theKalasa-Banduri Nala project.

But it was rejected in an interimorder on July 27, resulting in violent protests in NorthKarnataka.

The Kalasa-Banduri project is being undertaken by Karnataka to improve drinking water supply to the twin citiesof Hubballi-Dharwad and the districts of Belagavi and Gadag.