Karnataka illegally diverting Mhadei water, alleges govt

NT NETWORK Panaji 

Alleging that Karnataka is illegally diverting the water of Mhadei river in contempt of the Supreme Court though it cannot quantify the same, the government on Wednesday said the two contempt petitions filed by it before the apex court will  be heard on August 2, 2021 and September 8, 2021, respectively, while the special leave petition filed before the apex court challenging the Mhadei tribunal award on water diversion from the Mhadei  is listed for hearing on Sept 9, 2021.

Earlier, participating in discussion on a related question raised by Independent MLA Rohan Khaunte during the question hour in the state legislative assembly, the Opposition benches cornered the government on the issue.

The Opposition  alleged that the government has neither any aggressive plan nor intention to fight the case in the SC  for protecting the Mhadei, the lifeline of Goa.

Khaunte pointed out that no salinity survey has been conducted in Goa by the central authorities after September 2020, and today 40 per cent of the water of Mandovi river has become saline.

Chief Minister Pramod Sawant told the House that the National Institute of Hydrology has prepared the said salinity report, which will be presented before the apex court. 

Water Resources Minister Filipe Nery Rodrigues said the legal counsel of the government did not oppose

the notification of the award by the Mhadei Water Disputes Tribunal on his own accord and was removed.

The Opposition maintained that the legal counsel did so following such a direction from the government. Goa Forward Party MLA Vijai Sardesai suggested that the government should constitute a committee to quantify the Mhadei water diverted by the Karnataka government.

Rodrigues in his reply informed that the SC  in its wisdom had appointed a three-member monitoring committee for the purpose, with its members comprising superintendent-level engineers.

“The committee has already submitted to the Supreme Court this report, which is not in public domain,” the Water Resources Minister added, pointing out that there was however no consensus among the members of this committee, and the government has now asked its representative on this committee to prepare a related independent report.

He also said that more water of the Mhadei  is  diverted by Karnataka, during the monsoon.

Replying to a question from Opposition leader Digambar Kamat,  the Water Resources Minister said the Mhadei  issue-related letter written by then chief minister Manohar Parrikar to the then president of Karnataka unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party, on the eve of the assembly elections in Karnataka did not have the approval of the state cabinet.

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