Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on Wednesday said that sharing water from Mahadayi with other states was inevitable, PTI reported.
“One has to understand that 52 km of the river runs through Goa, 35 km through Karnataka and 16 km through Maharashtra,” Parrikar told reporters after a Cabinet meeting. “As such, sharing of water of Mahadayi river is inevitable as it is passing through all the three states.”
Karnataka and Goa have been have been fighting over the waters of the river, which originates in the southern state, for decades.
Parrikar added: “If someone thinks Karnataka will not get a share out of the tribunal judgment, I think he is living in a fool’s paradise.” However, Karnataka cannot take or divert water from the Mahadayi basin to any other basin or use it for anything but drinking purposes outside the basin, he said.
The chief minister said the matter before the Mahadayi Water Dispute Tribunal was about the diversion of water from the basin, and to ascertain if the basin was deficit.
On December 27, five districts of North Karnataka had come to a standstill as farmers observed a strike to protest against the non-implementation of the Kalasa-Banduri project, which would divert water from the Mahadayi river to these districts.
On December 21, Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar had said his state was ready to share a “reasonable and justified” amount of water from the Mahadayi river with Karnataka for its drinking water needs. Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had called it an “election gimmick”, while other parties in Goa also opposed Parrikar’s decision.
The dispute
Karnataka wants to divert a meagre 7.56 tmcft water from its contribution to the Mahadayi basin to Malaprabha dam to take care of the acute water shortage in Hubballi and Dharwad and about 180 villages near the dam. After necessary approval from the water resources ministry in 2002, Karnataka announced its plans to build two barrages on Mahadayi’s tributaries, Kalasa and Banduri.
Goa, however, objected to the plan and approached the Supreme Court in the same year. Goa believes the proposed water diversion would not only affect the water needs of the people, it would also affect the sensitive ecology of the Western Ghats.
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