PANAJI: The Mahadayi Progressive River Authority for Water and Harmony (PRAWAH) will hold a four-day visit to the Mahadayi river basin in Goa and north Karnataka to see the “extent of work undertaken by the Karnataka government”, Goa chief minister Pramod Sawant said on Thursday.
Mahadayi PRAWAH was set up by the Jal Shakti ministry in May last year to oversee compliance and implementation of the decisions of the Mahadayi Water Disputes Tribunal.
“The Mahadayi PRAWAH members will conduct a detailed site inspection of the Mhadei basin which will familiarise them with the on-ground facts about the extent of work undertaken by the Karnataka Government. The inspection is crucial for Goa as it will uncover the truth before the PRAWAH members. This is an outcome of our continuous efforts to protect Mhadei which will strengthen our case and vindicate our stand,” Sawant said.
The visit is being conducted at the request of the Goa government.
On Thursday the team began inspection of the Goa side of the river basin and is scheduled to travel to Chorla-Kankumbi along the Goa-Karnataka border on Sunday before heading to Bengaluru for a joint meeting of the three states on Monday.
PRAWAH has members nominated by Goa, Karnataka and Maharashtra, the three parties to the dispute,
{{/usCountry}}PRAWAH has members nominated by Goa, Karnataka and Maharashtra, the three parties to the dispute,
{{/usCountry}}Goa has opposed any diversion of waters of the Mahadayi river which originates in the Western Ghats in Karnataka, takes a detour via Maharashtra and enters Goa as the Mandovi. The Mahadayiriver basin drains an area of 2,032 sq km., out of which an area of 375 sq km. lies in Karnataka, 77 sq km. in Maharashtra and the rest in Goa.
Both the Goa and Karnataka governments have, for very different reasons, challenged the final award granted by the Mahadayi Interstate Water Disputes Tribunal. This verdict in August 2018 granted Karnataka a total of 13.42 Thousand Million Cubic Feet (TMC) of water against their total claim of 36.558 TMC.
While Goa has approached the Supreme Court arguing that Karnataka shouldn’t be allowed to divert any water since the Mahadayi is a water-deficient river, Karnataka had moved the top court arguing that the tribunal erred in granting it only 13.42 TMC.
Karnataka argues that the river diversion project is aimed at feeding northern Karnataka’s parched regions, particularly the twin towns of Hubli and Dharwad, Goa has said any diversion of the Mahadayi river, which is already water deficit, will spell doom for the state.