‘Goa has spent Rs 16.2 crore on Mhadei water dispute’

PORVORIM: The

Mhadei

water dispute with the states of Karnataka and Maharashtra from 2011 till date has cost the state government Rs 16.2 crore.


Additional

solicitor general of India

, Atmaram Nadkarni who has been representing Goa before the Mhadei Water Disputes Tribunal since 2013-14, was paid fees amounting to Rs 5.9 crore, water resources development (WRD) minister Vinod Palyekar informed the legislative assembly in a written reply on Thursday.

Opposition leader Chandrakant Kavlekar, who tabled the question, had sought details of expenditure incurred over the Mhadei water dispute.

In his reply, the WRD minister stated that advocate general Dattaprasad Lawande was paid Rs 75.1 lakh. The government engaged 14 lawyers, besides Nadkarni and Lawande, since 2013-14. Other lawyers who represented Goa include Salvador Rebello, Pankaj Vernekar, Ninad Laud, Pratap Venugopal, P S Narcinva, Anshuman, Amogh V Prabhudesai, Purna Bhandari, Ashvek Gosavi, Nikita Nadkarni, Pradosh Dangui, Akshaya Joglekar, Ashish Kunkolienkar and Mayuri Chawla.

Whereas, three consultants - Chetan Pandit, Suresh Chandra and K S Shankar Rao, were paid Rs 1.3 crore , Rs 97,500 and Rs 70,000 respectively.

Palyekar also clarified that “the Goa government has not agreed, nor has negotiated with Karnataka on sharing water of Mhadei river.”


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