KTCL stops bus services to Karnataka for two days

PORVORIM: The state-owned Kadamba Transport Corporation Limited (KTCL) has suspended its bus services to Karnataka on Thursday and Friday following reports of anti-Goa protests in north Karnataka districts, a fallout of the Mhadei water disputes tribunal’s rejecting Karnataka’s plea in the water dispute case. In its interim order on Wednesday, the Mhadei water dispute tribunal found no substance in Karnataka’s application for diversion of 7tmc (thousand million cubic feet) water from Mhadei basin to Malaprabha and declined to grant relief on interlocutory applications filed by Karnataka before it.The order is seen as a major victory for Goa.
Protests have erupted in Karnataka against the tribunal’s decision.
Confirming that KTCL will not ply buses to Karnataka for the next two days, Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar said that people from both states should respect the order of the tribunal and resolve issues in a ‘cultured’ way instead of staging protests. “We are an educated state. Karnataka is also an educated state and educated people must respect the country’s constitution, laws and should listen to what the judiciary says. If it can be challenged, they are free to do it,” said Parsekar.
Speaking to reporters at the Secretariat, transport minister Ramkrishna alias Sudin Dhavalikar said that the suspension order was issued as a ‘precautionary measure’. “The Karnataka bandh is for the state of Karnataka only, not for Goa. We won the Mhadei dispute issue yesterday. The Karnataka government should solve its problem. Though bus operators here are ready to go to Karnataka, I have ordered them not to go for the next two days. Right now, there are no bus services for Karnataka,” Dhavalikar said.
Calangute MLA Michael Lobo said that the protest happening in north Karnataka are a handiwork of the Congress. “People of Karnataka have to understand that Mhadei is the lifeline of Goa. You cannot take our water, because we will be without water. The entire Western Ghats flora and fauna is because of the Mhadei river. The bandh is not justified. It is a political move by the Congress government of Karnataka”.
Claiming to be water deficit, Karnataka had started work to divert water from the Mhadei, which flows into Goa.