PANJIM: Making a strong case for the Mhadei waters, which are a lifeline for Goa satisfying various ecological, human, and wildlife needs, Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar on Thursday said the State government will not fall to any kind of pressure tactics from Karnataka over the Mhadei water diversion dispute.
The State will depose its first witness in the case before the Mhadei Water Dispute Tribunal (MWDT) on February 23, when the matter will be heard. Consultant Dr Jyotiprakash will be the first witness on the issue of hydrology.
“Karnataka is trying all possible tactics to keep the Goa government engaged in discussions so that they can have their way through in constructing dams. But we will not fall for any pressure. Government is very serious on the matter and there won’t be any compromise,” Parsekar said participating in the session on ‘Mhadei River dispute – implications for Goa’ organised by International Centre Goa.
The Chief Minister said delegations from Karnataka, including farmers, lawyers, politicians and others, have been meeting him trying to engage in the discussion. “Karnataka chief minister also wants to meet me over the issue. But our stand is clear. We will not budge,” he added.
Parsekar was speaking in the presence of Water Resources Minister Dayanand Mandrekar, Leader of Opposition Pratapsingh Rane, Advocate General Atmaram Nadkarni and others.
Goa, Karnataka and Maharashtra are in a dispute over diversion of Mhadei River waters. While Karnataka has planned 12 dams across the river Mhadei, Maharashtra wants to construct four dams.
Parsekar said Goa government has no problem if Karnataka wants to use its water within the basin. “But they want to divert the water to another basin which is the Malaprabha basin which we will not allow. If you divert water within the basin then the ground level water table is rejuvenated,” he said adding that 56 per cent of the people in Goa reside in the Mhadei river basin which makes this issue more crucial.
The Chief Minister appealed to all political parties to come together on the issue irrespective of their political differences.
Earlier, Mandrekar said the issue which was neglected got the impetus from 2012 onwards (when BJP came to power in Goa). “Karnataka has now realized that they are losing in the tribunal. That is why they are now talking about the negotiations. But government is firm on its stand that there won’t be any compromise in the issue. The law will take its course,” he said.
Water Resources Chief Engineer S T Nadkarni made a detailed presentation on the entire Mhadei water dispute, wherein he highlighted that of the total 28 percent of Mahdei basin in Goa, 52 percent comprises of saline water. Mhadei’s total basin area is 1580 sq kms. “We are now left with only 827 million cubic meters (MCM) of water as against our requirement of 2460 MCM and hence the State might have to depend on the catchment areas of Karnataka and Maharashtra for water requirement,” he explained.
Nadkarni said that the Mhadei river lifeline faces a major threat of choking on account of water flows, siltation, leading to disruption of ecology affecting wildlife, agriculture, drinking water, fishing, etc. “Karnataka plans 12 dams, even if four are constructed it will harm the sustainability of the river itself and ecology of Goa as it will divert all the water from Mhadei basin to Malprabha basin,” he added.
As per the report, there are 30 villages scattered along the Mhadei basin, with areas being home for several species including an endangered bat species. There are four wildlife sanctuaries located in and around the basin.
