GULBARGA: The former Minister and Hyderabad Karnataka Horata Samiti President Vaijnath Patil on Sunday accused the former Prime Minister and Janata Dal (Secular) President H.D. Deve Gowda of making irresponsible statements on the Alamatti dam issue and jeopardising the interests of the State in getting its due share of water available in the Krishna which would be allotted by the new tribunal headed by Justice Brijesh Kumar.

Mr. Patil told presspersons that Mr. Deve Gowda's statement on the storage of water in the Alamatti dam and the letter by Union Water Resources Minister Priyaranjan Dasmunshi advising Karnataka to reduce the storage levels in the dam to 509 meters, instead of 519.6 metres considering the alleged threat of floods in Maharashtra, will be used by Maharashtra to further its argument before Justice Brijesh Kumar Tribunal.

He charged Mr. Deve Gowda with sacrificing the interests of the State on the Alamatti dam height issue when he was holding the post of Prime Minister by appointing a high-level committee headed by the then Chief Minister of West Bengal Jyoti Basu to go into the demand by Andhra Pradesh not to permit Karnataka to increase the height of the dam to its original level of 524 metres.

The high-level committee had stated that the height of the dam should be limited to 519.6 meters and this was used as a point by Andhra Pradesh before the Supreme Court to get a favourable order limiting the height of the dam to 519.6 meters.

"All this happened when Mr. Deve Gowda was the Prime Minister," he said.

If Mr. Deve Gowda had any qualms of protecting the interests of Karnataka, particularly that of North Karnataka, he could have used his powers as Prime Minister to increase the height of the Alamatti Dam to 524 metres.

Mr. Patil said that if Mr. Deve Gowda was interested in protecting the interests of the State in Alamatti dam issue, he should not issue misleading statements.

Mr. Patil urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to drop Water Resources Minister Priyaranjan Dasmunshi from the Union Cabinet.

He said the Union Minister's letter will be used by the Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra before the tribunal against Karnataka and demand excess share of water in the additional water available in the river and demand the tribunal to direct Karnataka to reduce the storing limit in the Alamatti dam.

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