PANJIM: Water Resources Department (WRD) Superintendent Engineers of Goa and Maharashtra, who were members of the joint inspection committee for the Mhadei river submitted their independent inspection reports to the Supreme Court.
At the last hearing on April 5, while hearing a contempt petition filed by Goa against Karnataka for allegedly illegally diverting water from Mhadei river basin, the apex court bench comprising Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice M R Shah had given eight days to both States to submit their individual reports.
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The directives were given after the court informed that both States were unable to sign the joint inspection report of Kalasa-Bhanduri project site over Mhadei river at Kankumbhi in Karnataka due to refusal by Karnataka, to record their observations.
Water Resources Chief Engineer Shrikant Patil told Herald that Goa and Maharashtra filed their individual inspection reports in the Supreme Court on April 9, as the matter was fixed for hearing on April 13. However, no fresh date has been fixed by the court for further hearing, he said.
Karnataka had filed its inspection report in the Supreme Court on April 5.
On February 22, the Supreme Court had asked the three States to constitute a joint inspection committee and to visit the Kalasa-Bhanduri project site to ascertain whether there was diversion of Mhadei river into the Malaprabha basin and to submit their report to the court on or before April 5.
The joint monitoring team visited Kalasa-Bhanduri project site twice on March 19 and 26 but failed to arrive at consensus while finalising the report.
