Mhadei dispute: Karnataka violating SC directives, Goa to complain

Violating directives of the Mhadei Inter-State Disputes Tribunal and the Supreme Court, the Karnataka government has re-started work on the Kalsa canal on the river, Goa's Water Resources Minister Vinod Palienkar claimed on Friday.

A spokesperson for the Chief Minister's Office said that state Chief Secretary would be writing to his counterpart in Karnataka asking the latter to immediately stop the work on the canal.

In a statement issued here, Palienkar said the construction by the Karnataka government along Mhadei banks is condemnable as the water dispute case is still to be adjudicated by the central tribunal.

"Karnataka has started the construction of head regulator and allied work on the Kalsa nallahs in total disregard of the orders of the tribunal and Supreme Court.

"A team of engineers from Goa Water Resources Department visited the site and confirmed the same with photographs. The Goa government is seized of the matter and letters will be sent to Karnataka government on the issue and issue taken up with the Mhadei tribunal," he said.

Meanwhile, a CMO spokesperson said that Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar has directed the state Chief Secretary to write a "stern" letter to his Karnataka counterpart, asking him to immediately order stopping of the work at Kalsa.

Goa, Karnataka and Maharashtra are currently involved in a dispute in the tribunal over controversial Kalsa-Bhandura dam project across Mhadei river, through which Karnataka aims to divert water from the Mhadei basin to nearby basin on the Malaprabha river.

Mhadei, also known as the Mandovi river, is considered as a lifeline in the northern parts of the coastal state. It originates in Karnataka and meets the Arabian Sea in Panaji in Goa, while briefly flowing through Maharashtra.

The river course is 28.8 km in Karnataka, and over 50 km in Goa.

Parrikar's offer last month to discuss river water sharing for drinking purposes on humanitarian grounds had triggered popular protests in both Goa and Karnataka.

--IANS

maya/vd