TEAM HERALD

 

PANJIM: A team from the Water Disputes Tribunal on Mhadei is to visit Goa next month, and will present the facts before the Supreme Court after the visit, officials said at a city function.  

In 2012, the state government has approached the Supreme Court seeking directions to the Union government to provide adequate resources for the functioning of the tribunal constituted to settle the Mhadei water dispute between Goa and Karnataka. 

In November 2010, the Union government had issued a notification on the appointment of a tribunal.

Initially the state had written to the Centre in July 2002 under Section 3 of the Inter-State River Water Disputes (ISRWD) Act, 1956, seeking the constitution of the tribunal. Under the Act, the Centre is required to constitute a tribunal if a water dispute between states cannot be settled by negotiation.

Karnataka is planning to divert water from the Mhadei basin to the Malaprabha basin arguing that it needs it to meet drinking water requirements of Hubli and Bailhongal. Karnataka had started diverting the water from Mhadei river in 2006. 

The Union Ministry of Water Resources notified the Mhadei Water Dispute Act 1956 and referred the matter to the tribunal after the Goa government approached the Supreme Court.

The Mhadei river or Mandovi has a length of 77 km. Out of this 56 km lie in Goa and 29 km in Karnataka. But it originates from a cluster of 30 springs at Bhimgad in the Western Ghats in the Belgaum district of Karnataka.  While 1,580 sq km of catchment area lies in Goa, 2032 sq km of the river’s catchment area lie in Karnataka.