Mhadei water already diverted towards Malaprabha: Minister Vinod Palienkar
Panaji, July 24 : The Karnataka government has already diverted the flow of the Mhadei river at Kalsa-Bhandura and the Goa government will file a contempt petition before the central tribunal, appointed to resolve the inter-state dispute, as a counter-measure, Water Resources Minister Vinod Palienkar said on Tuesday.
"Digging work was carried out at the Kalsa-Bhanduri nullah and the flow of (Mhadei) water towards Goa has been stopped and diverted to the Malaphrabha (river) basin. Therefore, our team will be filing an application in court tomorrow, including contempt of court, before the Tribunal," Palienkar said.
Goa, Karnataka and Maharashtra are in a dispute over the controversial Kalsa-Bhandura dam project across the waters of the Mhadei river at a central Tribunal.
Mhadei also known as the Mandovi river is the lifeline of the northern parts of the State. It originates in Karnataka and meets the Arabian Sea in Panaji in Goa, while briefly flowing through the territory of Maharashtra.
Karnataka also aims to build seven dams at various points along the river, including at Kalsa village, aimed at diverting the flow into what it claims is the water-starved Malaprabha basin in North Karnataka. The state has demanded that Goa should allow the transfer of over seven TMC of water to tide over its irrigation and drinking water needs.
Diversion of the water was one of key issues in the North Karnataka region during the recently concluded assembly election.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
LPG crisis: Karnataka temples gear up to stock wooden logs for ‘Prasada’
Bengaluru (PTI): Temples in Karnataka have started preparations to stock wooden logs fearing that the LPG shortage could hamper the ‘Prasada’ preparation and distributions to the devotees.
The looming LPG crisis in the state in the wake of Iran-Israel conflict has made the temple managements jittery.
According to the Akhila Karnataka Hindu Temple Archakas Federation (AKHTAF) president M S Venkatachalaiah, there is no immediate crisis in the temples.
“We have LPG cylinder stock that can last for a week but if this scarcity continues then there will be a problem in serving Prasada (offerings to the deity) to the devotees,” AKHTAF president said.
He added that many temples in the state have started stocking wooden logs to overcome the LPG crisis.
“Our temples have started preparing to store wooden logs to prepare Prasada though currently we don’t have a problem, at least for a week,” Venkatachalaiah told PTI.
Another priest working in a temple belonging to the state Endowment Department said the temples may have to go back to the traditional way of cooking as done in the ancient time using wood.
The LPG crisis has not affected the mid-day meal programme for government school students yet, though there was a meeting in the Education Department to find ways to tackle if crisis deepens, sources associated with the Mid-day Meal programme said.
Meanwhile, the largest partner of the Mid-day Meal programme in the country is Akshaya Patra.
The NGO said they do not depend much on LPG gas cylinder.
“The LPG crisis has not affected us. Our kitchens are steam-based, and we generate steam through boilers which run on electricity. That’s point number one. Point number two—gas is used only for very minor things, mainly for seasoning. That is the tadka,” an Akshaya Patra executive told PTI.
According to him, the NGO has has a gas reserves for about nearly one month across India, though gas is used in very small quantities every day.
He pointed out that the Mid-day meal programme will not be affected because in one or one-and-a-half weeks, schools will close owing to summer vacation.
Akshaya Patra feeds 23.5 lakh children across more than 24,000 schools across India, in 16 states and three Union Territories, he said.
