Farmers, environmentalists and others unite against irrigation project in Mahadayi basin

A coalition of farmers, environmentalists, religious leaders and advocates organised a protest meeting in Khanapur on Wednesday against the State government’s proposed land acquisition for the Banduri Nala Irrigation Scheme in an ecologically-sensitive Mahadayi basin.

The Save Mahadayi, Save Malaprabha meeting also witnessed the participation of some religious leaders, women’s groups and activists.

Resource persons and activists made impassioned speeches denouncing the project as a threat to water security, forests and livelihoods in the region.

The protesters, holding banners that read Our Mahadayi, Our Water, Our Bhimgad, accused the State government of reviving a shelved plan under the guise of the Kalasa-Banduri Nala schemes. They submitted a memorandum to the Tahsildar.

Social activist Dilip Kamat warned that diverting the Mahadayi waters to the Malaprabha will lead to desertification in North Karnataka while submerging forests and villages in the Western Ghats.

“If you cut forests around the hills here, there will be no rainfall and no water either in the Malaprabha or the Mahadayi or the streams around them. While trying to divert one river waters into another, we will end up turning the whole region dry,” he said.

To a query, he said that it is wrong to label environmentalists as anti-development lobbyists. “They are proponents of sustainable life that secures a future for our children,” he said.

“We should understand that they want to snatch away our water, land, forests and mountains. After drowning our land, they want to grow sugarcane, a water-guzzling, non-native crop. We cannot let anyone do that by stealing our water,” Mr. Kamat said.

“It is our responsibility to protect the rivers and the mountains. We have to realise that if the Malaprabha is our mother, Sahyadri is our father. We will not allow this ecological betrayal,” he said.

“We have to tell our elected representatives to voice our concerns, not their party high commands’,” Mr. Kamat said.

He said that the Mahadayi basin protests are over three decades old. “But then, the current protest is different as the local farmers are involved in it now,” he said.

Mr. Kamat recalled past victories, the cancellation of the Kadoli industrial acquisition (2,000 acres), Narasimhpur’s Zuari Agro Chemicals Project (1,190 acres), and the Birla project in Harihar, all of which were scrapped due to public resistance.

“If people unite, even the biggest plans can be stopped,” he said.

Kallappa Ghadi, a farmer from Karambol village who has received a land acquisition notice, said that several gram panchayats, including Karambol, have decided to pass a resolution against the land acquisition.

He urged all potential land-losing families to approach their elected representatives and ask them to raise their voice against the project.

Advocate Sonappa Nandrankar highlighted procedural violations in the land acquisition process, pointing out that the officials have issued notice dated February 25, in the first week of April.

“This was to inconvenience farmers who want to file objections within 60 days of notice. However, farmers can always ask the notice delivering officer to change the date to the date of reception and not the date of issue,” the lawyer, who practices in the Bombay (Mumbai) High Court, said.

He complained that the notice is infructuous as the State government has not conducted public consultation and social assessment under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act. “We have to argue that the notices are not valid as no social impact assessment has been conducted nor have the gram panchayats been consulted,” he said.

Environment conservationist Captain Nitin Dhond criticized the planned diversion of water from east to west as unscientific. He cited studies by the Norwegian Institute for Water Research and IISc and Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and Environment to show that North Karnataka is slowly becoming a desert due to deforestation and other measures.

Using data from these studies, he said that the Mahadayi basin project envisages construction of three dams on the various streams emptying into the Mahadayi.

“Such dams on the Mahadayi will reverse its flow, devastating Bhimgad and Mhadei wildlife sanctuaries in Karnataka and Goa and the Western Ghats evergreen forests,” he said.

The Mahadayi basin in Khanapur is classified as the most sensitive ecological zone in the Madhav Gadgil and Kasturirangan reports. “Experts have warned us of irreversible damage to the region. It is not just Khanapur that we are fighting for. The future of North Karnataka depends on the survival of the fragile ecosystem of Khanapur,” Mr. Dhond said.

Some speakers accused the government of misleading the public by branding the project as a drinking water initiative.

The former Minister Shashikant Naik said that the State government has consistently lied to courts and tribunals that it is a drinking water project, while the ultimate aim is to provide water to industries.

He also took objection to the State government initiating land acquisition, before obtaining due clearances from the Centre.

Sujit Mulgund, who has approached courts for the protection of eco-sensitive areas in the past, spoke against the project. “We will fight legally, socially and politically, if necessary. Our resolve is clear. No land acquisition. No dams. No surrender,” he said.

“This project is for industries and sugar factories, not for thirsty households. The government is taking water from the rural poor to supply to the urban rich,” said senior advocate Arun Sirdesai.

“Why destroy Khanapur’s evergreen forests, the lifeline of the region, to feed unsustainable agriculture elsewhere?” he asked.

An advocate of sustainable farming Sharada Gopal questioned the State’s promotion of water-intensive crops. “We are defying nature while ignoring rainwater harvesting and traditional wisdom,” she said.

She also asked the State government and other agencies why they are not promoting rainwater harvesting and other sustainable practices and local solutions for water scarcity in North Karnataka, rather than pitching for big ticket projects.

Religious leaders, including ISKCON’s Nagendra Prabhu, framed the struggle as a moral duty. “If we don’t protect nature, we perish,” he said.

Sri Baba Bhayankar Nath of Dongargaon Nath Panthi Math said, “We have to protect nature with our life and fight against environment destruction.”

Devraj Urs Award winner Shivaji Dada Kaganikar, activist Balasaheb Desai, Vinayak Mutagekar and others were present.