Team Herald
PANJIM: Water Resources Minister Vinod Palyekar on Tuesday moved an inter departmental note to transfer all powers of WRD Chief Engineer Sandeep Nadkarni to Assistant Chief Engineer P J Kamat.
The action, according to sources, has been initiated as Nadkarni has gone abroad on a holiday, while critical developments are taking place in the Mhadei water dispute case.
“All the powers of CE, WRD, shall be immediately given to ACE P J Kamat in view of recent Mhadei Dispute developments and during this critical time CE is not available and is out of the country on a private holiday. It is now very difficult to rely upon him,” states the inter department communiqué according to sources.
Sources from the legal team representing Goa before tribunal are also upset with Nadkarni for this. Nadkarni, along with the team, was supposed to prepare a contempt petition, based on photographic evidence, to be filed before the tribunal and SC latest by the end of January. However, the team expressed its anguish with the WRD Minister, who then acted immediately.
Days after Karnataka attempted to block the Mhadei tributary by resuming work of the Kalsa nullah dam, Goa on Monday filed a voluminous summation of arguments before the Mhadei Water Dispute Tribunal (MWDT) stressing that any trans basin diversion will deprive Goa of water for drinking, irrigation and industrial purposes, as well as be a disaster for aquatic, marine life and ecology.
The tribunal will hear final arguments on the inter-state water sharing issue between Goa, Karnataka and Maharashtra from Feb 6. The final verdict is expected in August.
