Goa government’s demand before the Union government for exclusion of the Mhadei Water Dispute Tribunal (MWDT) from the newly proposed amendment to the Inter-State River Water Disputes (ISRWD) Act, 1956, is a sensible one, as the amendment which provides for setting up a permanent inter-state river water disputes tribunal for adjudication of water disputes across the country will definitely harm the case of Goa against Karnataka and Maharashtra in the Mhadei water diversion issue. Goa is opposing diversion of Mhadei water by the two neighboring states – while Karnataka has planned construction of 12 dams, Maharashtra wants four dams across certain tributaries of Mhadei River in their respective jurisdictions.
The proposed amendment to the ISRWD Act, 1956, will be a serious setback to Goa, which is struggling to settle the dispute for the last nearly one decade – since September 2006, when the Karnataka government laid a foundation stone and started work on the project through its agency the Karnataka Neeravari Nigam Ltd. (KNNL). The delay in settling the dispute has resulted in KNNL completing 60 per cent basic work of the project till recently, before the MWDT issued a stop work order to both Karnataka and Maharashtra.
Presently, under the ISRWD Act, 1956, the Union government is empowered to constitute different tribunals to settle water disputes among various states (the MWDT is one such constituted body), but after the amendment there would be only one tribunal which will take up all the water dispute matters pending in the country. In a letter to the Union government, the Goa government has rightly expressed apprehensions that in event all existing tribunals are dissolved, the valuable time and resources already spent by the state in preparing representations of the case before the existing MWDT will turn ‘infractuos’ and hence requested the Centre to exclude MWDT from purview of the proposed amendment, particularly in view of the fact that the MWDT has already progressed with substantial business in the last several years since its constitution in 2010.
The Karnataka government’s project has already started causing grave damage to reserve forest area due to indiscriminate felling of trees in gross violation of the Forest Conservation Act, 1980, as well as the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. Karnataka government has also erected a concrete batching plant upstream of Kalsa tributary in order to expedite completion of the work of Mhadei Water diversion project.
Residents of Kankumbi-Jamboti region, where the project is located, are agitated as they have been facing acute water shortage due to deep excavation carried out for the project. The situation has not only resulted in untimely drying of wells in the region, but it is also posing a serious threat to the groundwater level and depletion of other water resources in the area. Villagers and local ecologists recently claimed that heavy excavation carried out for the project in the last few years, has already started showing its adverse effects.
Experts from the Indian Institute of Science (IIS), Bangalore have reportedly stated that by indiscriminate destruction of forest and excavation of the natural landscape for the implementation of Mhadei water diversion project, has caused destruction of the ecology of the region.
The Karnataka government is hell-bent on proceeding with its plans to building canals in thickly vegetated forest areas and construction of dams across Kalsa and Bhandura tributaries feeding the Mhadei River, in total disregard to sentiments of the agitating people of Goa as well as from Karnataka. It is now over a decade that Goa has been opposing the project as being unauthorised and ecologically destructive inter-basin diversion of water from the Mhadei basin to the Malaprabha basin.
The Mhadei River originates in Karnataka and becomes the Mandovi River past Ganjem village in Goa. The ecology of the Mhadei basin is already very fragile on account of massive deforestation and quarrying activities in Khanapur district of Karnataka. The basin falls in the Western Ghats, a biodiversity hotspot.
The Mhadei River basin supports hitherto unexplored flora and fauna. As per a report of Water Resource development, there are 30 villages besides four wildlife sanctuaries in and along the Mhadei basin, with areas being the home for several species, including endangered bat species. The Mhadei/Mandovi being an interstate river basin, drains areas in Karnataka, Maharashtra and Goa. The river rises in Jambotighat, about 10km north-east of Sonasagar in Belgaum district, at an elevation of about 940 metres above sea level. The total length of the main river is 87km, out of which the initial 35km is in Karnataka and the remaining 52 km in Goa. The river drains a total area of 2,032 sq.km., of which 375sq.km. are in Karnataka, 77 sq. km. in Maharashtra and the balance 1,580sq.km. in Goa.
It is now very clear; Goa’s river battle must not go in vain. The future of Goa’s ecology directly depends on the Mhadei catchment and therefore, the state must vigorously continue opposing Karnataka and Maharashtra governments’ evil designs of diverting the river’s water, tooth and nail.
(The writer is a freelance journalist)
