Team Herald
PANJIM: The Mhadei Water Dispute Tribunal (MWDT), involving Goa, Karnataka and Maharashtra will hear the final arguments in the Mhadei River water diversion from February 6 onwards.
The final hearing will commence with Senior Counsel Atmaram Nadkarni making a pitch against proposed diversion of water from Mhadei basin to Malaprabha basin by Karnataka by way of construction of 12 dams across the tributary. Maharashtra has also proposed construction of eight dams.
During the hearing, Goa will also bring on record the latest violation by Karnataka, wherein last month, it resumed work of Kalsa nallah thereby blocking Mhadei tributary. The work was stopped following intervention from the State.
The final verdict in the main petition seeking diversion of 56 tmc of water into Malaprabha basin is expected in August, when the term of the Tribunal is slated to expire. The tribunal has already rejected Karnataka’s plea for diversion of 7.6 tmc of water.
In July, 2002, the State of Goa had made a request under Section 3 of the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act, 1956 for constitution of the Tribunal and referred the matter for adjudication and decision of dispute relating to Mandovi River. In November 2010, the Tribunal was constituted.
Goa Government last month filed volumes summary of arguments before the Tribunal stressing on the fact that trans basin diversion will deprive people of Goa water for drinking, irrigation and industrial purpose, as well as act as disaster to aquatic and marine life and ecology.
Goa’s case is essentially the challenge to the proposed 12 projects by the State of Karnataka in the Western Ghats, on interstate River Mhadei and thereafter, the further proposal for the trans-basin diversion into Malaprabha reservoir from the river.
“The projects appear to aim at impounding a large portion of waters from the Mhadei River and its tributaries that flow into the State of Goa, which will mean that the State of Karnataka retains and controls all the dams and the waters of the River Mhadei, an exercise which is impermissible under the Constitution of India, depriving the lower riparian State of Goa of the minimum drinking water requirements apart from there being no water available for irrigation, industrial purpose, navigation, ecology etc,” Goa said in its submission.
“The State of Goa has consistently objected to outside the basin diversion, which Karnataka has been seeking on one excuse or the other such as supplementary hydropower generation in the Kali River basin, augmentation of the irrigation in the Malaprabha sub basin and the drinking water requirement in the Hubballi-Dharwad region,” the State further submitted.
While Karnataka is demanding diversion for supply of water to the drought-prone area of Hubballi-Dharwad, Goa has brought on record that the Belgavi district itself has 22 rivers and water from these rivers can be tapped to fulfil the requirement.
Further, the State has also exposed Karnataka’s game, wherein under the guise of taking drinking water from River Mhadei, the actual plan is to utilise the river water for sugarcane cultivation, which has grown from 224 ha in the year 1979 to 2756ha in 2012-13.
