Chief Minister assures government won’t compromise on Mhadei water diversion

PORVORIM: Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Wednesday reiterated that his government will not compromise on Mhadei water diversion, even as the opposition accused the government of failing to seek relief in the Supreme Court.

“My government won’t compromise on Mhadei diversion. The PRAWAH (Progressive River Authority for Welfare and Harmony) or the Mhadei Water Management Authority to implement the final award of the Mhadei Water Dispute Tribunal, was notified on May 23 this year. It will consist of 14 members to be nominated by the Centre and will be headquartered in Panjim,” the chief minister said.

Sawant said that the Supreme Court has admitted the Special Leave Petition (SLP) filed by the State government in March 2019, challenging the award of the Mhadei Tribunal and has fixed the matter for hearing from November 28 this year.

The Chief Minister also disclosed that the Goa Chief Wildlife Warden had already filed an application not to allow any construction work in the Mhadei basin to divert water into the Malaprabha basin.

The opposition members meanwhile grilled the government for failing to get Karnataka’s revised Detailed Project Report (DPR) on diversion of Mhadei river withdrawn by the Centre.

They also criticised the government for failing to seek stay in the Supreme Court on the verdict given by the Inter-State Mhadei Disputes Tribunal on allocation of water by the three riparian States.

Fatorda MLA Vijai Sardesai, who tabled a starred question on status of Mhadei river, said that the government had failed to get the revised DPR rejected.

He further said that lawyers representing the State had too failed to seek stay on the award of the Mhadei Tribunal or ask for expeditious disposal of the SLP now admitted as appeal.

“The revised DPR submitted by Karnataka and approved by the Central Water Commission (CWC) should be rejected. This was a major demand made during the Housing Committee meeting,” he said, regretting that the House Committee could not meet more than once.

“The double engine government had to withdraw revised DPR,” he charged.

Sardesai brought to the notice of the House that the gradient of the Mhadei river had increased thereby resulting in a drop in water flow in the State.

Leader of the Opposition Yuri Alemao and Sardesai charged that the government was compromising Goa’s interest in the Mhadei case. Yuri said that the government was yet to constitute the Mhadei PRAWAH.

Aldona MLA Adv Carlos Alvares Ferreira said that the government had failed to seek interim relief from the Apex Court and demanded that the government should seek withdrawal of Karnataka’s DPR.

Velim MLA Cruz Silva pointed out the expenditure worth crores of rupees on legal battles for the Mhadei  dispute and achieving unsatisfactory results. He said that the NGO Mhadei Bachao Abhiyan fought the legal case with Adv Bhavanishankar Gadnis and raised serious questions about the government’s approach to resolving the water dispute between the two States.

Earlier, WRD Minister Subhash Shirodkar assured members that the second meeting of the House Committee on Mhadei will be convened soon after the conclusion of the ongoing Assembly session.