Tribunal frames issues to determine Mhadei row

Keri: The Mhadei water dispute tribunal, New Delhi, on Friday framed the issues for determining the water dispute raised by the Goa government against Maharashtra and Karnataka.
Among the vital issues framed is whether basic data and information, essentially required for arriving at the most reasonable assessment of the river’s water availability, is available.
Next, whether Goa can prove that as the River Mhadei flows through three sanctuaries, the states of Karnataka and Maharashtra require prior National Board of Wildlife clearance in addition to all statutory and other clearances.
Another issue is whether Goa establishes available water of River Mhadei is required for ecological sustenance of the river valley eternally. And whether the shares of all the riparian states should be determined on the basis of remainder water available from Mhadei.
The issues were framed after the counsels for Goa, Maharashtra and Karnataka stated that the pleading in the Mhadei matter in all respects had been completed.
The tribunal also asked Goa, Maharashtra and Karnataka to file all related evidences regarding pleadings made by them by September 15. And it decided to conduct the next hearing in the matter in the third week of November.
Goa today also highlighted that the projects of water diversion of Karnataka and Maharashtra are in the heart of the Western Ghats—one of the 25 biodiversity hotspots of the world—and these proposals will result in damages to the state’s biodiversity.
Earlier, Karnataka’s counsel Fali Nariman’s attempt to submit new issues in the Mhadei matter along with maps, was strongly objected to by Goa’s advocate general Atmaram Nadkarni. Karnataka then withdrew the issues.