PANAJI
Goa's Advocate General Devidas Pangam, who was on Monday called to the Cabinet meeting to explain all the legal matters related to the Mhadei dispute, has said the Karnataka government cannot proceed with work at Kalasa and Bhandura merely based on the consent by the Central Water Commission (CWC) to the two DPRs.
“Based on DPR alone, Karnataka cannot start any work. We are taking all the steps to ensure that no diversion of water takes place in terms of Kalasa-Bhandura rivulets,” Pangam said, speaking to the media after the Cabinet meeting.
The Advocate General who heads Goa's legal team on the Mhadei matter also said that the State will base its strategy on the issue of the two DPRs as well as any work for diversion of waters, on the Wildlife Protection Act.
"Our view is that no water from Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary can be diverted at all in law. No authority can permit it, including the Central government," Pangam said, adding that violation of Section 29 of the Wildlife Protection Act by Karnataka in relation to diversion of water from Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary will be pursued seriously.
"We will raise the point seriously and will not permit it to happen,” the Advocate General, said, adding that the approval for Karnataka's DPRs is a 'technical clearance' from the water management point of view.
Several other permissions and clearances, including that from Chief Wildlife Warden are necessary, Pangam said, adding that such permissions cannot be granted with respect to Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary since it will amount to diversion of water for purposes other than the wildlife sanctuary.
The Advocate General said, the State will raise this issue before all Central government agencies and authorities even as he added that the State will formally write to the Centre to furnish copies of the DPRs which were granted approval by the CWC.
