Mhadei tribunal has till August to submit further report: Centre

Margao: The Mhadei issue found echo in the Rajya Sabha on Monday, with the government informing RS MP Luizinho Faleiro that it has extended the period of submission of further report by the Mahadayi Water Disputes Tribunal until August.
Referring to the tribunal’s report submitted in February 2020, minister of state for Jal Shakti Bishweshwar Tudu said in his reply that the tribunal, “after examination of the various proposals submitted by the states and keeping in view all available information and particularly from the view point of sustainability of the resources and ecological needs”, has allowed the states to undertake specific water resources development activities as stated in its report.
Tudu said that under clause XII of the tribunal’s decision, “there is provision to constitute a Mahadayi Water Management Authority to implement the report and final decision of the Mahadayi Water Disputes Tribunal with its functions and compositions, etc”.
Faleiro said that he has raised the Mhadei issue in the Rajya Sabha several times over the last two years. He said the latest approval to Karnataka’s detailed project report (DPR) for the Kalasa Bhandura project was “patently illegal and in violation of the Supreme Court order and all the laws, including the Forest Conservation Act and Wildlife Protection Act”.