the goan I network
PANAJI
Goa governor Satya Pal Malik pulled a coup of sorts when he met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday night and extracted a verbal assurance of a resolution to the vexed Mhadei dispute with neighbouring Karnataka, including the row over the Environment Ministry’s virtual nod to the Kalsa-Bhandura project.
“Goa Governor Satya Pal Malik called on PM Narendra Modi during his visit to New Delhi and took up the issue of Mhadei water dispute especially the environmental clearance given to Kalsa-Bandura water project of Karnataka by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change,” an official government statement said.
“The Governor emphasised upon the importance of Mhadei water to the State of Goa, it being the lifeline of the people of Goa. The Prime Minister gave due assurance to the Governor that the issue will be resolved shortly,” the statement adds.
The statement issued on Friday by the Goa government’s Information and Publicity department also claimed that after Malik’s meeting with the Prime Minister, the Union Minister for Environment, Forests and Climate Change Prakash Javadekar also spoke to the Governor separately on telephone and gave an assurance of a favourable decision in the next day or two.
The Mhadei issue has dominated Goa’s political discourse for several weeks with Opposition parties consistently targeting the Dr Pramod Sawant-led government and accusing him of sacrificing the interests of Goa for political gains in Karnataka where
the BJP eventually did exceedingly well in crucial assembly by-polls.
The Congress, meanwhile, has termed the claims of a resolution of the row made by the State government on the back of the Governor’s intervention with the Prime Minister as a “jumla”
The party was scheduled to stage a dharna in the national capital on Sunday over the MoEF&CC nod to Karnataka’s Klasa-Bandura water diversion project.
The MoEF’s letter to Karnataka in October stating that the Rs 841 crore project proposed by Karnataka did not require a ‘Environment Clearance’ was the trigger that ignited the latest round of acrimony in a dispute which dates back to at least three decades.
The river originates in Karnataka but meets the Arabian Sea at Miramar after charting a meandering course in North Goa encompassing the talukas of Sattari, Bicholim and Tiswadi.
The dispute was referred by the Centre to an inter-state water disputes tribunal which heard Goa, Karnataka and also Maharashtra through which the river also briefly flows. In August 2018, the tribunal declared its award which allotted to Karnataka 13.42 TMC, including 3.9 TMC for diversion to the Malaprabha basin. Maharashtra was alloted 1.33 TMC.
Both Goa and Karnataka however have approached the Supreme Court challenging various aspects of the tribunal’s award.
Additionally Goa has also approached the Apex Court accusing Karnataka of already diverting the river’s waters even though the tribunal’s award has not been notified yet by the Centre.
