Hubballi: Leaders of the Kalasa-Banduri agitation took, leader of the Kannada Chalavali Vatal Paksha (KCVP), Vatal Nagaraj to task for calling for a dawn to dusk bandh in connection with the Kalasa Banduri water dispute with Goa on January 25.
The incident occurred when the leader was addressing a press meet here in Hubballi. While addressing the press meet, several Kalasa Banduri agitation leaders slammed Vatal Nagaraj for disturbing normal life and causing serious inconvenience to the common man, who ultimately gets affected by calls for a bandh.
During the press meet, the leaders also denied any support for the bandh. The leaders also asked him to call for a bandh during the Prime Minister’s visit to Karnataka in order for their demands to be met. “Till now we have observed 10 bandhs in connection with the Kalasa Banduri project but all our efforts to bring the issue to the notice of the government has gone in vain, other than affecting normal life of normal people in the state,” the leaders said.
However, Vatal Nagaraj did not pay heed to the Kalasa Banduri leaders and walked out of the press meet and said that the bandh will be observed on January 25 at any cost.
Pro-Kannada outfits have given a call for a Karnataka bandh on January 25 to press for the intervention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Mahadayi river water sharing row between the state and neighbouring Goa. Vatal Nagaraj, leader of the Kannada Chalavali Vatal Paksha (KCVP), a pro-Kannada outfit, claimed that about 2,000 pro-Kannada outfits backed the bandh.
Karnataka has locked horns with Goa over the Mahadayi river sharing issue to supply water to the twin cities of Hubballi and Dharwad for drinking, through the Kalasa-Banduri canal.
Karnataka is seeking a release of 7.56 tmcft of water by Goa from the Mahadayi river for the Kalasa-Banduri Nala project, being undertaken to improve the drinking water supply to Hubballi-Dharwad and the districts of Belagavi and Gadag in the northern region.
The Kalasa-Banduri Nala (diversion) project involves building of barrages across Kalasa and Banduri, tributaries of the Mahadayi river, to divert 7.56 tmcft of water to the Malaprabha river which supplements the drinking water of the region.
On December 27 last year, a bandh was observed in five north Karnataka districts over the same issue following a call by farmer groups.
