Bengaluru, Aug 18 (DHNS): The Supreme Court on Thursday pulled up the Union government, asking it why it did not act on Karnataka's request for holding meetings to resolve issues raised by Goa with regard to the Kalasa-Banduri drinking water project. The court, however, told Karnataka to stop the work on the project.

“What are you doing,” a bench of Justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta asked advocate S Wasim A Qadri, representing the central government.

Qadri, however, said, “We have taken a conscious decision not to hold any meeting till the dispute pending for sharing of Mahadayi water dispute is resolved by the tribunal.”

Senior advocate Fali S Nariman and advocate Anita Shenoy, appearing for the Karnataka government, agreed to stop construction work on the project. It involves diversion of 258 hectares of forest land in Western Ghats.

“The Karnataka counsel says no construction will be carried out with regard to Kalasa-Banduri project. In view of the submission, nothing survives in the matter, the application is disposed of,” the bench ordered.

The court closed the proceedings initiated on a plea raised by 'Mahadayi Bachao Abhiyan,' a group of activists and environmentalists. The Goa-based NGO, represented by senior advocate Kailash Vasudev, did not object to it in view of the statement by the Karnataka counsel.

The NGO had contended before the court that the project was continuing without any approval under the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, and other related mandatory clearances from the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change.

In response to the court's query, the Union government had said it did not grant any approval to the project. The Karnataka government, however, claimed it made applications to the central government for forest clearance and sent several communications since 2001.

The project over Mahadayi river in Belagavi district has long been a bone of contention between Karnataka and Goa. Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar had called it an “ecological bomb,” saying huge diversion of Mahadayi river would have negative impact on the state's ecology.

Karnataka claimed the project was undertaken to improve drinking water supply to the twin cities of Hubballi-Dharwad and the districts of Belagavi and Gadag. It involved building barrages across Kalasa and Banduri, two tributaries of the Mahadayi river, to divert 7.56 tmc ft of water to the Malaprabha river, which supplies drinking water to the twin cities.