the goan I network
PANAJI
Even as Karnataka is set to challenge the Mhadei tribunal’s award in a bid to eke out a better share of the river’s waters than the 13.42 TMC for itself, the Goa government is seemingly hesitant to take the call on exercising its option to approach the Supreme Court.
Perhaps saddled by the absence of Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, who is in the United States for treatment, the political executive in the State, including Water Resources Minister Vinoda Paliencar, is tight-lipped.
Both, the Mhadei Bachao Andolan and the Opposition Congress have strongly voiced the demand that Goa challenge the Water-Sharing Tribunal’s award delivered six days ago in the Supreme Court.
Paliencar when contacted said, Goa will file a “disobedience petition” before the Supreme Court in a day or two to take Karnataka to task for already violating pre-award directives of the Tribunal. The Minister, however, did not come clean on the question of challenging the award itself in the Apex court. Sources in the legal field opined that should Karnataka approach the Supreme Court first, Goa could be at a strategic disadvantage as it will then be left defending its case against the neighbouring State’s claims for a better deal than the Tribunal’s award.
Goa will be hamstrung to then aggressively pursue its own original contention that Karnataka be prevented from diverting any of the river’s waters, the legal sources contended.
The Mhadei river originates in Karnataka, and after flowing through a short area in Maharashtra, charts a course from east to west Goa before flowing into the Arabian Sea at Panaji. Almost 78 per cent of the river’s basin lies in Goa.
Soon after the Tribunal’s August 14 verdict, the Goa government had claimed it to be a victory although its main contention to disallow diversion of water from the basin by Karnataka citing colossal damage to its ecology, was rejected.
The Justice J M Panchal headed Tribunal allotted 13.42 TMC water to Karnataka partly for drinking and for setting up a Hydel power project. Maharashtra which had demanded 7 TMC water got only 1.33 TMC.
MBA chief and former minister, Nirmala Sawant has demanded that the Goa government challenge the Mhadei Inter-state Water Disputes Tribunal award which allotted 13.42 TMC (thousand million cubic feet) to Karnataka.
Sawant, who has for over a decade championed Goa’s cause on the Mhadei dispute with Karnataka, said allowing Karnataka to divert any amount of water will spike salinity levels of the river’s waters in Goa playing havoc with marine life and the famed biodiversity along the river course through the Western Ghats.
The Opposition Congress too has been demanding that the government approach the Supreme Court, contending that the Tribunal has rejected all of Goa’s contentions.
Karnataka had claimed 36.55 TMC water from the Mhadei basin, which included 1.50 TMC for irrigation and drinking water supply, 7.56 TMC for diversion to the already depleted basin of the Malaprabha river through the Kalsa-Bandhuri canal project, 14.97 for power generation.
Congress spokesman Yatish Naik contended that Goa had demanded 122 TMC but is allowed only 24 TMC to rubbish the government’s claim of ‘victory’.
