“I must have resolved at least 13 inter-State water sharing disputes during my stint as Union Water Resources Minister. But the Karnataka-Maharashtra water sharing dispute is among the three that remains unresolved,” Union Minister for Road Transport Nitin Gadkari said in Belagavi on Monday.
He was speaking at an event to launch highway projects in North Karnataka.
“I realised very early in my tenure that these projects will not go ahead if the disputes were not resolved. I instructed my officials to find different ways to resolve them. I would ponder over and pick up the right one that was acceptable to all parties. I used to tell my staff not to open the doors of the meeting hall till the disputes were resolved. Many a time, we have resolved issues in just one sitting,” he said.
However, he lamented that despite his best efforts, the Karnataka-Maharashtra dispute is among the three that remains unresolved.
Mr. Gadkari pointed out that it was a wrong notion that dams caused floods. “Some people believe that the Alamatti dam is the cause for floods in Maharashtra. This is not true. The main reasons for flooding are encroachment upon river bodies, drying up of connecting channels and the lack of a grid system that can absorb excess water from the reservoirs in the catchment area. If we are able to create water grid like chains of lakes and tanks and remove encroachments in water bodies, widen canals and nalas, improve feeder channels, then floods can be easily controlled,’’ he said.
He also felt that if such functional networks are created, there would be no need for raising the height of dams like Alamatti to store more water.
He said that a new highway connecting Bengaluru and Pune is being planned. A special project will be taken up to connect important religious places in Karnataka and Maharashtra with good roads, he said.
“There is no dearth of funds for road works in the country. We have spent over ₹50 lakh crore on roads till now,” he said.
