PANAJI
The Revolutionary Goans Party (RGP) has asked the State government to clarify its position on a recent report by hydrologists from the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), which says the diversion of the Mhadei river by Karnataka will have less impact on Goa but could significantly affect the Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary.
The Goan newspaper, in its Tuesday edition, reported on a joint study titled ‘The water budget of the Mahadayi river and its implications for the inter-state dispute’. The study was conducted by scientists from NIO and the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services. It states that diverting water from the Kalasa tributary could have a “significant impact”, but this is limited to the northern part of the Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary.
Speaking at a press conference, RGP chief Manoj Parab demanded that Chief Minister Pramod Sawant respond to the findings. He said party MLA Viresh Borkar will write to the House Committee to seek an explanation from NIO on the report. “So many studies have been conducted in the past that revealed how Mhadei diversion will affect the ecology, drinking water and environment. It is surprising to see such findings coming from a central agency like NIO,” Parab said.
Parab added, “These non-Goan scientists have no ground knowledge and love for Goa. The state government needs to pull up NIO.”
The study states that for the Kalasa tributary, the approved diversion of 1.72 tmc (48.7 Mcum) by the Mhadei Water Dispute Tribunal will have a significant effect in the northern part of the wildlife sanctuary. However, the overall impact on the Mahadayi river’s flow or the Mandovi estuary is said to be less than the natural variation.
Similarly, it states that the permitted diversion of 2.18 tmc (61.73 Mcum) from the Bhandura tributary will have “a minor impact on the (river’s) discharge at the Goa–Karnataka border.”
