Maharashtra and Karnataka are at loggerheads amid a border row with the state’s Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis saying he will ask the Bommai government to stop the work on raising the height of the Almatti dam on the Krishna river until the flood recedes. Study is not done to assess. The impact is complete in Sangli and Kolhapur.
Responding to a question in the state assembly on Wednesday, Fadnavis said he would approach the Supreme Court if the Karnataka government did not heed Maharashtra’s request.
Fadnavis said the state government had appointed a panel headed by Nandkumar Wadnera, former principal secretary, water resources department, to study Karnataka’s elevation increase to 524 meters and its impact on floods in Kolhapur and Sangli.
The study panel was set up after the devastating floods of 2019 in two districts of Maharashtra.
The Vadnera report, submitted on May 27, 2020, states that if the height of the Almatti and Hippargi dams on the Krishna is increased, there will be no adverse impact in Kolhapur and Sangli.
However, in September 2021, Vadnera wrote to the then Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, stating that when the report was prepared, there was no information about the check dam in Karnataka, which could lead to floods in Kolhapur and Sangli.
“We will bring this to the notice of the Supreme Court and request Karnataka to stop the work till our study is completed, as it may have a very adverse impact on Maharashtra. In parallel, we will approach the Supreme Court to stop the work if they do not agree,” Fadnavis said.
Karnataka-Maharashtra border dispute
Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Saturday reiterated his position on the border dispute after the Maharashtra Assembly unanimously passed a resolution on the issue. He asserted that “not even an inch of Karnataka would be given to Maharashtra” and that his government was fully committed to protecting every piece of land.
Reacting to the resolution adopted by the Maharashtra Assembly on the boundary issue, the CM said that the resolution of the Maharashtra Assembly has no value and that they are doing such things as their case is pending before the Supreme Court, is very weak. Bommai further said that the resolution of the Karnataka Assembly is very clear and the state is clear in its stand which is constitutionally and legally valid.
Read also: ‘Not even an inch of Karnataka…’: CM Bommai on border dispute with Maharashtra