Keri
: The hearing on the river water dispute between Goa and
Karnataka will resume before the
Mhadei
water dispute tribunal from November 29 in New Delhi.
After a gap of almost two months, the hearing will commence with cross-examination of one of Karnataka’s witness, A K Gossain, by the counsel for Goa and the additional solicitor general of India, Atmaram Nadkarni.
The last hearing in the Mhadei matter was held on September 7. Goa had withdrawn its earlier witness, IIT scientist
Jyoti Prakash
and its new witness, hydrologist from Pune,
Chetan Pandit, appeared before the tribunal on behalf of Goa.
During his cross-examination, Chetan Pandit explained before the tribunal the ecological and environmental role and importance of the River Mhadei as the lifeline of Goa state.
On December 1, 2015, the Karnataka government had filed an additional petition for allowing them to divert 7TMC feet of water of the tributaries of the Mhadei during the monsoon.
It claimed that the state was facing paucity of drinking water. The tribunal did not consider the request as the data submitted regarding less rainfall in the areas of North Karnataka was not realistic.
Kiran Gawade, a social activist from Karnataka, when contacted by TOI, said, “This season, Karnataka has, so far, not resumed work on the Kalasa project to facilitate diversion of the Kalasa nullah water into the Malaprabha river. Karnataka could not do any work on the Kalasa dam as the areas fall in reserve forest and it has not yet received a clearance from the ministry of environment and forest.”
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