Panaji (Goa)

While Goa’s fight with Karnataka over distribution of Mahadeyi water remains in the media limelight these days, The Neutral View brings to you in detail what exactly is Goa’s case is about before Mahadeyi Water Dispute Tribunal.

1. The State of Goa’s case is essentially the challenge to the proposed 12 projects by the State of Karnataka in the Western Ghats, on interstate River Mahadayi and thereafter, the further proposal for the trans-basin diversion into Malaprabha reservoir from the Mahadayi River. This in brief is the main thrust of the case of State of Goa.

      2. The State of Goa is primarily opposed to the proposed 12 Projects of the State of Karnataka as well as the Projects of the State of Maharashtra, since it would result in         a complete disaster of aquatic life, marine life, and terrestrial ecology and deprive the people of Goa of the Water for drinking as well as irrigation and industrial           purposes.

3. The State of Goa in this regard has undertaken and carried out an independent yield study through its Expert Witness and has produced the same before the Hon’ble Tribunal.

4. The State of Goa has also established that the drinking water requirement of most parts of the State of Goa is met through Opa water Works in Khandepar River since pre-liberation times. It is further demonstrated by the State of Goa that the water level in the Khandepar River is required to be maintained by pumping the water into the Khandepar River and for this reason, Ganjem Water Lifting facility has been provided by installing pumps. In addition to this water is also pumped from non-saline areas of Zuari Basin and pumped into Kalay River, a tributary of Mahadayi, which in turn supplies the water to Khandepar River, which has been a traditional arrangement.

5. It has been brought out by the State of Goa in their documentary evidence, pleadings as well as in the oral evidence that the water level at Ganjem recedes way below and as such the pumps do not work and do not pump out any water for transmitting it to Opa water works wherein the water for the purpose of maintaining the regular supply of drinking water to the people of Goa has been pumped, in view of the shortage of water, from the mining pits wherein water is accumulated. This water from the mining pits is then pumped into Khandepar River for the purpose of drinking water.

6. With the proposed 12 projects of the State of Karnataka and another 8 projects of the State of Maharashtra, the water level at Ganjem Opa, Sanquelim, Padocem, Asnora and Dabos Schemes which is available for pumping drinking water supply in the months of November to May would be unavailable and would recede way below the desired mark required to maintain the regular pumping. With this even the basic minimum drinking water requirement of the State of Goa in the months other than November to May would also be affected in as much as the river flow would not have the required depth to pump out water from the Kalay River to Khandepar River from which the water would be pumped to Opa water supply scheme and this would be completely violative wherein the people of the riparian State of Goa would be deprived of the drinking water requirements.

7. Apart from the aforesaid the State of Goa has also brought out on record the requirements of the State of Goa and the needs of the people in the riparian State for the purpose of irrigation, industrial use, navigational purpose, environmental requirements, requirement to sustain the tourism influx, the requirement of water for wildlife sanctuaries and national parks, and generally for terrestrial ecology as also for wildlife animals, cattle and other animals, and several other requirements including marine requirement and the water required to reduce the salinity level in River Mahadayi from Miramar to Ganjem. The State of Goa has also pleaded in detail, and proved that the requirement of the State of Goa are much more than 94.4 TMC of water and as such the proposed projects of the States of Karnataka and Maharashtra are completely not feasible. Implications of each of the Project and their drastic adverse consequences have been given in detail herein below in this Written Submissions.

8. The State of Goa has, initially in the Complaint-Letter dated 09.07.2002 sufficiently brought out how the State of Karnataka has been continuously making attempts to divert the water of Mahadayi to Malaprabha River and Kali Nadi from various points in the upper reaches of Mahadayi River through various tributaries, sans any consistency in their proposals, which are themselves confusing enough, without sending complete details or any firm proposal of the projects, Karnataka had been making correspondence with the State of Goa since the year 1972 initially seeking its concurrence giving one excuse or the other including that of drinking water requirements.

9. The State of Goa has consistently objected to outside the basin diversion which Karnataka has been seeking on one excuse or the other such as supplementary hydropower generation in the Kali River basin, augmentation of the irrigation in the Malaprabha sub basin and the drinking water requirement in the Hubli Dharwad region.

10. By pleading a non-existent immediate dire requirement by their Letter dated 16.04.2002, Karnataka sought a diversion of 7.56 TMC of Water from the Mahadayi basin for the two disputed projects of Karnataka both involving diversion outside the basin. Such bogey of dire and immediate need was nothing but a slip-shod technique adopted by the State of Karnataka and the entire matter was pre-planned in order to systematically sabotage the vital interest of the State of Goa. Within a matter of few days, without making any reference to the State of Goa or without even examining the proposal, the Ministry of Water Resources, Government of India in its over enthusiasm and with complete over obsequiousness accorded a post haste ‘in-principle clearance’ on 30.04.2002 keeping the Goa Government in complete darkness and without even considering any single point of the interstate dispute, without there being any planning clearance to the Project and without there being any study conducted by the State of Karnataka whatsoever including that of the available water resources in the Mandovi river basin.

11. Indeed this letter was in complete defiance of the Government of India’s earlier stand reflected in the Letter of the then Minister for Water Resources, Union of India, dated 05.08.1994, Planning Commission’s letter dated 09.03.2001 and CWC’s Letter dated 03.11.2000.

12. The then Hon’ble Chief Minister, State of Goa, immediately took up this matter with the then Hon’ble Prime Minister and upon the directions issued by the Hon’ble Prime Minister, the Government of India kept the said illegally and unauthorizedly granted ‘in-principle clearance’ in abeyance and thereafter decided to refer the dispute to the Tribunal for its adjudication. It is important to mention here that the so called ‘in-principle clearance’ was something unknown to law, practice, procedure and was perhaps manifested by the crooked designs of the State of Karnataka with tacit approval of the Ministry of Water Resources, Government of India, for the first time. No such in-principle clearances were given either before this date or post this date by the Union Ministry of Water Resources.

13. The State of Karnataka thereafter had been continuously urging for diversion of water all of which is reflected in the details set out in the chronology of dates and events given hereinafter.

14. The State of Goa has also pleaded that the requirements of the State of Karnataka in the Malaprabha reservoir as also the drinking water requirements in the twin cities of Hubli-Dharwad area is a bogey of completely incorrect statements and the whole exercise, proposed by the State of Karnataka is aimed at sustaining the manifold increase as well as further increasing and encouraging the cultivation of the water guzzling sugarcane crop area.