Goa wants courts to decide
Mhadei issue
Sandesh Prabhudesai
24 July 2002
Goa is seeking setting up of a judicial
tribunal by the centre to resolve the inter-state water
diversion issue of river Mhadei with Karnataka.
Simultaneously, the tiny western state
is also planning to approach the Supreme Court, demanding
stay on commencing any kind of construction for dams
or hydroelectric projects by Karnataka, in the Mhadei
basin.
With the two-point agenda, an all-party
delegation will now meet union water resource minister
Arjun Sethi on 26 July. Almost all the parties unanimously
supported chief minister Manohar Parrikar on the issue,
at a meeting held here yesterday.
The anxiety was visible here as Karnataka
has already started surveying the areas and little construction
work has also begun in the forest area where Mhadei
basin originates in Karnataka. The southern state also
plans to divert the water to river Malprabha.
Mhadei originates in the forests of
Karnataka but flows mainly through Goa to join the Arabian
sea as river Mandovi. Karnataka however plans to construct
at least seven dams and three hydroelectric projects,
by diverting the waters to river Malprabha.
The official figures indicate that
Goa covers the catchment area of 1580 sq kms of the
Mhadei basin while Karnataka covers only 375 sq kms.
It also includes 76 sq kms of catchment area, which
falls in Maharashtra.
The long-pending issue suddenly gained
momentum with central water resources ministry secretary
B N Nawlawala issuing a letter to the Karnataka government
in March, allowing them to utilise 7.56 TMC of water
of Mhadei basin for drinking purpose in Hubli and Dharwar
districts.
Terming it premature, Parrikar demanded
immediate withdrawal of the letter as well as stringent
disciplinary action against Nawalawala, even by approaching
prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. However, there
has been no positive response in this regard so far.
The Mhadei Bachao Manch, a local organisation
set up to fight the issue, has meanwhile also started
mobilising public opinion across the border in Karnataka,
while public meetings have begun all over the state
in protest of Karnataka's sinister designs.
Besides destroying the whole ecological
balance in the Sahyadri ghat if the water is diverted,
almost the whole of North Goa will turn into a desert
as Mhadei is considered a lifeline for the whole belt
- from forest to the coast. It ultimately merges into
the Arabian sea as the picturesque Mandovi river in
Panaji.
The state water resources secretary
would thus now officially demand setting up of a judicial
tribunal to decide the issue, under provisions of section
3 of the Inter-state Water Disputes Act, 1956.
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