The Mahadayi Water Disputes Tribunal is expected to deliver its verdict next month and the State government is hoping for a favourable ruling.
Speaking to presspersons here on Wednesday, Water Resources Minister D.K. Shivakumar said the government has given all documents, including photographs of Goa using the waters, to the tribunal to seek justice in water-sharing.
Goa’s legal course
Meanwhile, the Goa government has decided to move the tribunal against Karnataka’s alleged act of diverting Mahadayi river water to its Malaprabha basin. A team of officials from Goa on Monday visited Karnataka’s Kanakumbi village, located in the Malaprabha basin adjoining the State’s border, and confirmed that the river water was being diverted, Goa’s Water Resources Minister Vinod Palyekar had said in Goa on Monday. He said on Wednesday that the contempt petition would be filed on Friday.
Mr. Shivakumar said the State government would fight the battle with neighbouring Goa within legal limits. “Goa is a small State and we are not interested in fighting a legal battle with it,” he said.
Stating that Karnataka has not been entirely utilising the water from the Mahadayi, Mr. Shivakumar said the government has evidences to prove that Goa was using the river water. The government is hoping to get a favourable verdict next month, he said.
Karnataka and Goa are locked in a bitter battle over the sharing of river water. The matter is pending before the tribunal.
Last year, the Supreme Court ordered Karnataka to stop work on construction of a canal, which was aimed at diverting water from the Mahadayi tributary.