The Kannadigas and Marathis from Sangli district in southern Maharashtra on Friday put at halt their protest seeking merger of their villages with Karnataka, reportedly after the Maharashtra government assured them that their demands will be considered, a senior official from irrigation department requesting anonymity said.

As Maharashtra government failed to maintain its assurance given in Decemeber 2022 to take up the Mhaisal Lift Irrigation project, both the linguistics of the 65-villages in Jatt taluk in Sangli district formed an organisation “Paani Sangharsh Samiti” (water agitation committee) and sketched an indefinite term ‘Appeal to Karnataka’ movement.

Earlier, the group intended to block the state highway at Umadi and Muchandi on Friday to push the Karnataka government to merge the bordering villages with the state. The protesters planned to carry out a march from Maharashra border to Chadachan, a village in Vijayapur of Karnataka.

When the matter came into Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde’s notice, he pressed a delegation headed by the executive Engineer of the irrigation department which succeeded in dropping the proposed movement, the senior official mentioned above said.

The irrigation ministry asked the executive engineer (EE) and the regional head of southern region of the department Rohit Kore to in convincing the ‘Paani Sangharsh Samiti’ to drop the protest. As the government’s earlier assurances were not met, the samiti told the official to provide the assurance in writing. EE Kore, in the official letter head of the department wrote the assurance of under taking the Maishal Lift Irrigation project within two months after which the samiti decided to pause the agitation.

Executive Engineer Kore told the samiti that the tender process of ₹981-crore Mhaisal Lift Irrigation project was completed and the commencement of the work was delayed due to technical reason and that the project will begin in two months.

Quoting EE Kore, Paani Sangharsh Samiti’ president Sunil Potdar told HT that entire Jatt taluk and its adjoining places will be supplied sufficient water and the agriculture land will be irrigated once the project is completed. Apart from officials from irrigation department from the southern zone, Jatt tehasildar Jeevan Banasode and Jatt police inspector Sandeep Shinde and regional head Ajitkumar Nasthe attended the meeting with the samiti remembers.

Samiti president Potdar alleged that Maharashtra intentionally did not provide basic civic amenities to Kannadiga dominated places in Sangli and Solhapur taluks in southern Maharashtra.

“The government is looking into our request after the Kannadigas of this region united and urged Karnataka to merge their villages in to its fold,” Potdar said.

He added that the area in which they live continue to be in the same condition as to when the nation got its independence. “We have been urging the government for basic amenities since the states were reformed in 1965. Our voice was only heard after we requested Karnataka to merge us into its fold,” Potdar added.

Potdar said that the samiti has temporarily withheld the movement and that it would be continued if the project is not carried out within the assured term.

Kannadigas form the dominant population in 65 villages in Jatt, the people here go about half-a-km to collect water from ponds during monsoon and face a water crisis during summer. “Most of our villages have been deprived of roads, streetlights and public transportation. Not just us but our forefathers also made vain attempts to get these basic amenities,” samiti vice president Anil Shinde said.

He also alleged that Marathis in Karnataka are provided with all the facilities. The state has never discriminated people from the other linguistic. Marathi students in the state get their textbooks soon after commencement of the academic year and the schools don’t lack teachers. Whereas,there are no sufficient Kannada schools and required teaching staff in Maharashtra, he said. “ Our students are being supplied text books after the completion of first term and most of the primary and high schools are running with one or two teachers,” Shinde said.

Datta Patil, a Marathi speaker from Maisal village, situated close to Maharashtra border said that they too heartily wished to get merged with Karnataka as their neighbouring places in Karnataka are have irrigation and basic civic facilities.

Not only from the Jatt taluk , Kannadigas from Akkalkot, Solhapur, Kagal and from the region adjoining Bidar in Karnataka have also urged the Karnataka government to merge them into the state as they are deprived of basic civic amenities.