Karnataka to ''pressurise'' centre to notify Krishna Tribunal award: CM Siddaramaiah
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday said that the government will demand the Centre to issue a gazette notification for the award of the Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal-2, at a meeting called by the Union Jal Shakti Minister C R Patil next week.
This will facilitate the use of waters allocated to the state and allow for an increase in the height of the Almatti dam, Siddharamaiah added.
He said that the state government will assert in the meeting that it will raise the dam height to 524 meters as there is no interim order by the Supreme Court.
The Jal Shakti Minister will chair a meeting on May 7 with the water resources ministers of Karnataka, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana to discuss the report-cum-award of the Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal-2.
The CM chaired a meeting with Deputy Chief Minister and Water Resources Minister D K Shivakumar, along with other ministers, legal experts, and officials, to decide on the state government's stance.
"Ahead of May 7 meeting, we consulted with the legal team to discuss the state’s position. Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal-2 order was out on December 30, 2010, and subsequent orders in 2013. Yet, the central government has not issued the notification," Siddaramaiah said.
Speaking to reporters after the consultation, he noted that he and Shivakumar had met the central minister regarding this matter.
"The Union Minister has now called a meeting, and in that meeting, we will demand that the notification be issued immediately. The second tribunal order allocated 173 TMC of water for use, and to store and utilise this amount of water, the dam height must be increased from 519 meters to 524 meters. For this, the gazette notification must happen," he said.
Noting that Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, which were divided in 2014, had filed an application stating that the dam height cannot be increased without the gazette notification, the CM said. "They may divide the water allocated to them among themselves, but we must utilise the water allocated to us," he added.
"We will demand that the gazette notification be issued. We have already made this demand, and we will reiterate it at the meeting. Furthermore, we will clearly state that, in the absence of an interim order by the Supreme Court, we will increase the dam height to 524 meters," he added.
Expressing happiness over the Union Minister’s call for the meeting regarding the notification of the tribunal award, Shivakumar said, "We have already wasted 15 years since the tribunal award, so we are demanding and appealing to the central government and courts to issue the gazette notification because the cost of construction is increasing every year, and water is being wasted."
"We are pressuring the central government. I hope they understand. We appeal to the neighbouring states of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Maharashtra on this issue, as no one will be affected," he added.
Shivakumar said an all-party meeting will be convened after the May 7 meeting with C R Patil.
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Strict security measures in place in Mumbai for Messi's events at 2 venues Dec 14, say police
Mumbai (PTI): In view of Argentine superstar footballer Lionel Messi's visit to Mumbai on Sunday, the city police are implementing stringent security measures, like not allowing water bottles, metals, coins inside the stadiums and setting up watchtowers to keep an eye on the crowd, officials said.
The police also said taking extra care to avoid any stampede-like situation and to prevent recurrence of the chaotic situation that unfolded in Kolkata during Messi's visit on Saturday as thousands of fans protested inside the Salt Lake stadium here after failing to catch a clear glimpse of the football icon despite paying hefty sums for tickets.
Messi is expected to be present at the Cricket Club of India (Brabourne Stadium) in Mumbai on Sunday for a Padel GOAT Cup event followed by attending a celebrity football match. He is expected to proceed to the Wankhede Stadium for the GOAT India Tour main event around 5 pm.
"In view of Lionel Messi's visit to Mumbai, the police are geared up and have put in place a high level of security arrangements in and around the stadiums located in south Mumbai. Considering the chaos that prevailed in Kolkata and the security breach, we have deployed World Cup-level security arrangements at Brabourne and Wankhede stadiums," an official said.
Expecting heavy crowd near the stadiums during Messi's visit, the city police force has deployed more than 2,000 of its personnel near and around both the venues, he said.
As the Mumbai police have the experience of security 'bandobast' during the victory parade of ICC World Cup-winning Indian team and World Cup final match at the Wankhede Stadium, in which over one lakh cricket fans had gathered, we are prepared to handle a large crowd of fans, he said.
"We are trying to avoid the errors that occurred in the past," the official said.
There is no place to sneak inside the stadiums in Mumbai like the Kolkata stadium, according to him.
The police are also asking the organisers to provide all the required facilities to the fans inside the stadium, so that there will be no chaos, he said, adding the spectators have purchased tickets in the range of Rs 5,000 to 25,000. After paying so much of amount, any spectator expects proper services, while enjoying the event, he said.
The police are expecting 33,000 spectators at the Wankhede Stadium and over 4,000 at Brabourne Stadium. Besides this, more than 30,000 people are expected outside and around the stadiums just to have a glimpse of the football sensation, he said.
The organisers responsible for Messi's India visit recently came to Mumbai to discuss security arrangements. During the meeting, the Mumbai police asked them not to take the event lightly, according to the official.
After those requirements were fulfilled, the final security deployment was chalked out, he said.
Police has the standard procedure of the security arrangements inside the Wankhede Stadium, where people are barred from taking water bottles, metals objects, coins. Police are setting up watch towers near the stadiums and there will be traffic diversions, so that there is maximum space available to stand, according to the official.
Police are also appealing to the spectators to use public transport service for commuting and avoid personal vehicles to reach south Mumbai.
To avoid any stampede-like situation, police are also taking precautionary measures and will stop the fans some distance ahead of the stadium and public announcement systems will be used to guide the crowd. Barricades will be placed at various places to manage the crowd.
In case the crowd swells up beyond expectation, the police will divert people to other grounds and preparations in this regard underway, he said.
Additional police force has been deployed in south Mumbai to tackle any kind of situation, he said.
