Set up in November 2010, the tribunal’s term was slated to expire on August 21, this year. Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar had requested the Union Government to extend the tribunal’s term by two years.
“There is good news for the people. The Centre has extended the term of MWDT by one year. It was supposed to expire on August 21 and hence there were various apprehensions and worries. Now the tribunal term is extended up to August 21, 2017,” Parsekar told the State Legislative Assembly on Friday.
In July, 2002, Goa, under Section 3 of the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act, 1956 had requested the tribunal’s constitution to adjudicate and decide on the dispute relating to Mandovi River. The issues mentioned in the request included assessment of available utilisable water resources in the basin at various points and allocation of this water to the three basin States keeping in view priority of the use of water within basin as also to decide the machinery to implement the decision of the tribunal.
Last week, the tribunal rejected Karnataka’s proposal for diversion of 7TMC of water from the Mhadei basin.
Karnataka has proposed construction of nearly 6 dams across the river Mhadei.
