NT Reporter
Sankhali
The water level in the Bhandura nullah reduced drastically this year. The nullah is one of the perennial sources that joins the river Mhadei near Nerse in Khanapur, Karnataka.
“This will certainly have serious ecological and environmental implications. Water from this nullah quenches the drinking and irrigation needs of humans as well as wildlife in the area. It rises in the forest of Jamgao and eventually meets the Mhadei river at Nerse, and then flows in the direction of Goa,” said environmentalist Rajendra Kerkar.
A group of villagers living within the Mhadei basin of Karnataka who visited Nerse on March 29 found that the water level of the Bhandura nullah had drastically dipped.
Karnataka has proposed diverting 2.18 tmcft of water into the Malaprabha basin at Nerse and Manturga villages of Khanapur.
Though the Central Water Commission has given technical clearance to the modified detailed project report of the Bhandura project, the Regional Empowered Committee of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change in Bengaluru recently deferred mandatory forest clearance, seeking further clarifications from Karnataka regarding the project’s ecological impact on the Bhandura nullah.
A comprehensive report on the Bhandura nullah project and desertification in North Karnataka, prepared by a group of scientists, researchers and experts from Karnataka, has stated that the project violates various environmental laws, including the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972, the Forest Conservation Act of 1980 and the Environment Protection Act of 1986, and could result in irreparable losses to the forests of the region.
Villagers living within the Mhadei basin of Karnataka have already opposed the Kalasa-Bhandura project. However, despite this, the Karnataka Chief Minister has made necessary budgetary allocations in March 2026 for undertaking the unfinished work of the Kalasa-Bhandura project after obtaining clearances on environmental and wildlife aspects.
