M. Mallikarjun Kharge

Bangalore: The Congress has said that it is as determined as the Bharatiya Janata Party to ensure the speedy completion of the Kalasa-Banduri Nala project.

A delegation led by Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president M. Mallikarjun Kharge will call on the All-India Congress Committee president Sonia Gandhi on Friday and place the facts about the dispute with Goa over the project. If possible, the delegation will also call on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Union Water Resources Minister Saifuddin Soz.

"We will seek the Centre's approval for the drinking project which will enable us to use 7.5 tmcft of the 200 tmcft available in the river," Mr. Kharge said here on Tuesday.

The Congress is in a fix over a recent statement by Ms. Gandhi relating to the disputed project. What has added to the discomfiture of the Congress is that the BJP is attempting to convert the statement into a political issue. The Congress is now attempting to turn the tables on the BJP by reminding people that it was the previous National Democratic Alliance government at the Centre that kept in abeyance sanction for the execution of the Kalasa-Banduri Nala project.

Mr. Kharge, apparently taken aback by recent developments in some of the north Karnataka districts after Ms. Gandhi made the statement during an election campaign meeting in Goa recently, said the Congress has been fighting for the project for over a decade. It was unfortunate that Ms. Gandhi's statement had been taken out of context.

Mr. Kharge and other senior Congress leaders from the State will brief Ms. Gandhi on the history of the Mahadayi (called Mandovi in Goa) river water issue and request her to speak to the Prime Minister and the Union Water Resources Minister to give the go-ahead for the Kalasa-Banduri Nala project. With a new government in place in Goa, the Congress is hoping that it will not be hostile to the project.

`Restore clearance'

"We will request her to impress on the UPA Government to restore the in-principle clearance granted on April 30, 2002," Mr. Kharge said. (This order was kept in abeyance by another order on September 19, 2002).

He said the water available in the Mahadayi is around 200 tmcft (according to a study report with the Central Water Commission). Of this Karnataka had been apportioned 45 tmcft. The project is designed to provide drinking water to Hubli and Dharwad cities and some villages in Belgaum, Bagalkot and Gadag districts.

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