BELGAUM: Undeterred by Goa government’s efforts to seek a stay on the Kalsa-Bandura project, Karnataka Chief Minister Jagdish Shettar on Wednesday said his government will make every effort to complete and implement the water diversion project at the earliest. He was reacting to a question on the water levels in the Malaprabha River, where Karnataka is seeking to divert water from the controversial Kalsa-Bhandura project. Addressing a press conference, Shettar said Karnataka would take up necessary measures to strengthen Karnataka’s case in the Central Water Tribunal. “We will initiate all necessary measures to complete the project at the earliest,” said Shettar, when asked to respond to Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar’s statements in the recent Goa Assembly that his government would try and get the Mhadei Water Disputes Tribunal functioning by October. Shettar was in Belgaum on Wednesday to take part in the state-level Teacher’s Day programme organized by the Department of Public Instructions at Belgaum this year. Speaking at a review meeting of officials from the district, Shettar took stock of the drought situation in Belgaum district. Briefing the chief minister about water levels in reservoirs across the district, Deputy Commissioner V Anbukumar said except for the Malaprabha Water Reservoir, all other reservoirs were either full or would be filled to capacity due to good rains in the district since last week. “However, water level at the Malaprabha Reservoir in Savadatti is far below its capacity. The reservoir, which had 33.34 TMC of water in the first week of September last year, now stands at a meagre 11.85 TMC, a deficit of about 22 TMC,” Anbukumar said. It maybe recalled that Fatorda MLA Vijay Sardesai had raised concerns in the Goa Assembly over the advanced stage of completion of the Kalsa-Bhandura project, prompting Parrikar to assure that all efforts would be made to stop the “illegal diversion of water.”