7 days ago
Massive rally in Belagavi against Kalasa-Bhandura project of K'taka
Keri:
Social and environmental activists, religious leaders, and students from Belagavi and the surrounding areas staged a rally on Tuesday to strongly oppose the Kalasa-Bhandura project of Karnataka.
The rally ended with the protesters submitting a memorandum to the Belagavi deputy commissioner, which sought immediate intervention and conveyed stern opposition to the proposed river diversion project.
The protesters said activities are under way for executing the project despite no clear directives. However, they said, permissions have been given by the authorities concerned.
The memorandum said, 'The project, which seeks to divert substantial volumes of water from the ecologically sensitive Mhadei basin, poses a grave and irreversible threat to the Bhimgad Wildlife Sanctuary, the Western Ghats forest belt, and the perennial river systems that sustain the biodiverse forests that regulate rainfall patterns of the region.'
It raised apprehension against the project that is being executed without obtaining environmental and wildlife clearances. 'The project, we understand, is located barely a few kilometres from the boundary of the Bhimgad Wildlife Sanctuary, and in certain stretches, is skirted by the notified eco-sensitive zone around the sanctuary,' the memorandum said.
It added, 'As per the directions of the Supreme Court and guidelines issued by the ministry of environment, any activity proposed within 10km of a sanctuary boundary mandates prior scrutiny and approval from the standing committee of the National Board for Wildlife (NBWL).'
In addition, the memorandum said, a thorough environmental impact assessment is needed. 'The absence of these clearances renders the project patently illegal and liable to be immediately halted,' the memorandum added.
In 2006, JDS-BJP coalition govt in Karnataka with chief minister H D Kumaraswamy initiated the building of two canals at a cost of Rs 400 crore.
The project is currently under review by the NBWL and the National Tiger Conservation Authority. The proposal for the Bandura nullah project that was submitted in Aug 2024 speaks of acquiring 28 hectares of forest land.
Various Kannada and Marathi notables unitedly participated in the rally.
