PANAJI
In a setback to Goa related to the decades-old Mhadei dispute, the Union government’s Central Water Commission (CWC) has granted its clearance to Karnataka’s detailed project report (DPR) to construct dams at Kalasa and Bhandura to divert the river’s waters.
The CWC communicated its approval of the DPRs to the Karnataka government through an ‘office memorandum’.
Karnataka is proposing to divert 1.72 tmc by building a dam at Bhandura and 2.18 tmc with a dam at Kalasa, which are within the ambit of the August 2018 award of the Mahadayi Water Dispute Tribunal (MWDT).
CWC director, N Mukherjee, has however said in the office memorandum that the acceptance of Karnataka’s DPR from the hydrology and inter-State aspects, is subject to the decision of the Supreme Court of India before which both Goa and Karnataka, besides the third riparian State of Maharashtra have appealed against the August 2018 MWDT award.
Karnataka’s claim for a share of Mhadei river waters has been a contentious one and an issue Goa has been fighting against for decades since the 1970s. Initially, several Chief Minister-level talks failed to break the logjam between the two States and eventually the Centre constituted the MWDT in 2013.
After hearing the claims and counter claims of all the three riparian States -- Goa, Karnataka and Maharashtra -- for nearly five years, the MWDT finally passed its award on August 14, 2018 allocating 3.9 tmc for diversion to Karnataka.
Subsequently, all the three States have challenged the award before the Apex Court which has however refrained from passing any interim orders even as a separate interlocutory petition of Karnataka seeking notification of the NWDT award was accepted.
Accordingly, the Centre notified the MWDT award in February 2020, making it binding on all three States subject however to the final outcome of the main challenge of the award before the Supreme Court.
