Mahadayi dispute should be resolved politically: K’taka congress leader

The ongoing Mahadayi interstate water dispute involving Goa and Karnataka should be resolved politically rather than in courts, said Prakash Rathod, Congress leader and member of the Karnataka Legislative Council in Goa on Wednesday

The ongoing Mahadayi interstate water dispute involving Goa and Karnataka should be resolved politically rather than in courts, said Prakash Rathod, Congress leader and member of the Karnataka Legislative Council in Goa on Wednesday.

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Rathod, who has been appointed one of the AICC observers for the upcoming polls in Goa, when asked about the party’s stance on the dispute, said, “As far as the Mahadayi issue is concerned, first and foremost there is a BJP government at the Centre, Karnataka and Goa. If the PM wants a solution; it can be found within two minutes. But he does not have the will to do it. They only want to make Goa and Karnataka fight.”

“The case is currently being fought in the Tribunal and the Supreme Court. I want that a political decision should be made by making the Maharashtra, Goa and Karnataka governments sit together. The Modi government at the Centre has failed to redress this issue,” he added.

Goa has opposed any diversion of waters of the River Mahadayi which originates in the Western Ghats in Karnataka, takes a detour via Maharashtra and enters Goa as the Mandovi. The Mahadayi river basin drains comprises 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 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 which in a verdict in August 2018 granted Karnataka a total of 13.42 thousand million cubic feet (tmc) of water out of their demand for 36.558 tmc of water.

While Goa has approached the Supreme Court arguing that Karnataka shouldn’t be allowed to divert any water owing to the fact that the Mahadayi river is a water deficient river, Karnataka is before the Supreme Court argued that the tribunal erred by granting it only 13.42 tmc of water.

Past efforts at holding ‘talks’ between the two states have failed because Goa and Karnataka hold irreconcilable positions on the issue given Goa’s stance that no water should be diverted outside the basin while Karnataka believes that it can ‘negotiate’ the quantum of water they should be allowed to divert.