Panaji, The Goa government will oppose attempts made by Karnataka to divert additional water from the Mhadei river basin at every appropriate forum, be it the National Green Tribunal or the Supreme Court, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said on Sunday.
Speaking to reporters, a day before he is scheduled to lead an all-party delegation to meet Union Minister for Ministry of Environment and Forests Prakash Javadekar, Sawant also said, that he would urge the Union Minister to withdraw a letter written by his central ministry to a Karnataka government agency, giving nod to the Rs 841 crore Kalasa-Banduri dam project.
The project backed by the Karnataka government, envisages diversion of water from the Mhadei basin, to the deficit basin of the Malaprabha river also in Karnataka, ostensibly for drinking water purposes.
“We will oppose the issue of Mhadei river at every appropriate forum, whether it is the NGT or SC. We will express our opposition wherever needed,” Sawant told reporters here on the sidelines of a Raj Bhavan ceremony on Sunday.
Commenting on the agenda of his all-party delegation, which is scheduled to meet Javadekar in the national capital on Monday, Sawant said: “We are going to meet him with regards to withdrawal of the letter issued by his ministry. Our request to the Union Minister will be to withdraw the letter”.
Javadekar’s October 23 letter has triggered a political storm, with the Opposition parties taking to the streets demanding Sawant’s resignation. The Opposition as well as civil society activists have said that the diversion of the Mhadei river water would cause an “ecological disaster” in Goa.
The Mhadei river originates in Karnataka and meets the Arabian Sea in Panaji in Goa, while briefly flowing through Maharashtra.
An inter-state water dispute Tribunal, set up by the Central government, after hearing the over two-decade long dispute between Goa, Karnataka and Maharashtra over Mhadei river water sharing had, in its award in August 2018, allotted 13.42 thousand million cubic feet (TMC) from the Mhadei river basin (including 3.9 TMC for diversion into the depleted Malaprabha river basin) to Karnataka. Maharashtra has been allotted 1.33 TMC.
The Goa government has subsequently filed a special leave petition challenging some provisions of the award and has also accused Karnataka of illegally diverting water from the Mhadei basin, even before the Award is formally implemented.
