CM blasts CWC over Mhadei
diversion
Sandesh Prabhudesai
25 June 2002
Goa government has made corruption
charges against secretary of the union ministry of water
resources, while expressing total mistrust in the Central
Water Commission.
The state is now planning to move to
the Supreme Court, asking for a stay on the letter issued
by the CWC secretary B N Nawalwala that Karnataka could
divert water of river Mhadei, while the matter is still
under dispute.
Chief minister Manohar Parrikar is
also planning to meet prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee,
urging him to set up a tribunal to decide on the inter-state
water dispute.
Using the letter issued by the CWC
on 30 April, Karnataka government however is making
moves to set up a hydroelectric project by diverting
Mhadei water and seeking permission from the National
Thermal Power Corporation.
Suspecting hand of the Karnataka government
in getting this letter, Parrikar points out that Nawalwala
had issued the letter on the last day of his retirement.
"Surprisingly, he was then given extension in service",
he states, suspecting that extension must have been
the part of the deal.
The letter issued by him as the CWC
secretary states that Karnataka could use 7.5 TMC water
of river Mhadei for drinking water purpose for Hubli
and Dharwar, once the CWC allocates the quota for Goa,
Maharashtra and Karnataka.
Though river Mhadei originates in the
forests of Karnataka, major portion of its basin is
in Goa, besides little part of it also flowing through
Maharashtra. The river, as Mandovi, then joins the Arabian
sea in Goa.
The official figures indicate that
Goa covers the catchment area of 1580 sq kms of the
Mhadei basin while Karnataka covers 375 sq kms. The
catchment area in Maharashtra however is only 76 sq
kms.
Goa has raised the issue before the
CWC from the time Karnataka has announced its plan to
divert the water - at its origin - to Malprabha and
construct almost seven dams and three hydroelectric
projects there.
"Karnataka is a water-deficit state
and it just cannot be relied upon with the way they
have been breaking laws in the Cauvery dispute", states
Parrikar. The diversion however is a major issue of
public concern here as river Mandovi is considered a
lifeline of Goa.
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