Yeddyurappa out at CM over quota promise

Bengaluru, May 6: Karnataka has reported 20 new cases of coronavirus taking total number of cases in the state to 693.

The state health department said in a bulletin on Wednesday that 20 new cases have been confirmed for COVID-19 in the state. "The total number of cases in the state is 693," it said.

The count includes 354 patients who have been discharged and 29 patients who succumbed to the disease.

Out of the remaining cases, 303 patients are in isolation at designated hospitals while six patients are in ICU. The bulletin has also reported one death due to non-COVID cause.

The number of COVID-19 cases in the country reached 49,391, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Wednesday morning.

This includes 33,514 active cases and 1,694 deaths due to infection so far.

A total of 14,182 persons have been cured and discharged so far, according to the Health Ministry. One patient has migrated.

Bengaluru, Feb 23: Bolstered by the Supreme Court's interim nod for the gazette notification of the Mahadayi Water Dispute Tribunal award by the Central government, Karnataka decided to allot funds for the drinking water project in the state's northwest region, an official said on Saturday.

"Funds will be allotted in the state budget for fiscal 2020-21 to complete the Kalasa-Banduri project across the Mahadayi river for supplying drinking water to the four drought-prone northern districts in the state," the official of the water resources department told media on anonymity.

As Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa also holds the finance portfolio, he has agreed to allocate funds for the project, held up for years in the legal battle with the neighbouring Goa and Maharashtra over the sharing of the river water among the three coastal states.

Yediyurappa is slated to present the state budget for the ensuing fiscal in the legislative assembly on March 2.

"We will resume the project work once the Centre notifies the award though it will be binding on the final outcome of the apex court's hearing the review petitions of Goa and Maharashtra against the Tribunal award," the official noted.

A division bench of Justice D.Y. Chandrachud and Justice Hemant Gupta on Thursday passed an interim order on the Tribunal award, allowing the central water resources ministry to notify it for implementation and posted the case for final hearing in July.

The Tribunal on August 14, 2018 allocated 13.42 thousand million cubic feet (tmcft) of the river water to the southern state for irrigation and drinking water supply to towns and villages across Bagalkot, Belagavi, Dharwad and Gadag districts, which are in the arid region of the Deccan plateau.

The four districts are about 400-550 km northwest of Bengaluru in the southern state.

Of the 13.42 tmcft water, 5.5 tmcft will be used in the river basin and for diversion into the depleted Malaprabha reservoir while the balance 7.92 tmcft will be utilized for hydel power generation instead of allowing the water to go into the Arabian Sea on the state's west coast through Goa.

Goa, which opposed Karnataka's demand for 36.66 tmcft, was allocated 24 tmcft, while Maharashtra got 1.3 tmcft.

The Tribunal assessed that 188.06 tmc feet water is available at 75 per cent dependability.

The three-member Tribunal is headed by Chairman Justice J.M. Panchal, Justice Viney Mittal and Justice P.S. Naayana.

The Union government had set up the inter-state Tribunal on November 16, 2010 for the djudication of the Mahadayi basin water allocation among the three riparian and contiguous states.

Goa and Maharashtra claimed 122.6 tmc feet and 6.35 tmc feet of the river water respectively.

The Tribunal, which commenced sittings on September 6, 2012, held 1,209 sittings for over 6 years.

Supreme Court senior counsel F.S. Nariman represented the state before the Tribunal to present its case.

The Tribunal's chairman and two members inspected the river basin area across the three coastal states from December 12-24, 2013.

The 77km-long Mahadayi or Mandovi river originates at Bhimgad in the Western Ghats in Belagavi district and flows into the neighbouring Goa through Maharashtra and joins the Arabian Sea off the west coast.

Though the river flows 29 km in Karnataka and 52 km in Goa, its catchment area is spread over 2,032 km in the southern state as against 1,580 km in the western state (Goa).

Chamaranagara, Mar 29: As many as 595 Tamil Nadu-based fishermen, who were working in Mangaluru, crossed the Karnataka border and reached their state via Chamarajanagar on Saturday.

Police said following the lockdown, the fishermen had left Mangaluru in more than 20 vehicles. The fishermen crossed the Karnataka border through Punajur check-post. However, the vehicles returned after dropping them near Hasanur check-post in Tamil Nadu.

As the fishermen had no proper documents, they were stopped by Tamil Nadu Police. However, the police allowed them after screening. The Tamil Nadu government arranged vehicles to ferry them, said a police officer.