State to move SC for early hearing on Mhadei issue: CM

Panaji: Chief minister Pramod Sawant on Friday said that the state government will file an application before the Supreme Court seeking an early hearing in the Mhadei case.
The Mhadei matter was adjourned on Thursday.
Reacting to the Karnataka WRD minister’s statement that work on the Kalasa-Bhandura drinking water project will be completed within a year, Sawant said that the Goa government is serious on the issue and will do everything required to protect the state’s interest in the Mhadei matter.
The chief minister said that advocate general Devidas Pangam held a meeting with the state’s counsel in Mumbai.
“The matter was not taken up as the judge before whom it was listed had appeared for the state in the Mhadei matter. He used to represent Goa. When he was representing the state, the matter was adjourned,” Sawant said.
“We will file an application before the apex court for an early hearing in the Mhadei matter and we are hopeful that hearing in the case will begin soon,” he said.
The chief minister said that WRD minister Subhash Shirodkar has submitted a memorandum to Union minister for Jal Shakti Gajendra Singh Shekhawat objecting to the unilateral technical clearance given to Karnataka for the diversion of Mhadei waters by the Central Water Commission (CWC).
“We will take a delegation to Delhi to meet Union home minister Amit Shah and Shekhawat on the Mhadei issue,” Sawant said.
The state cabinet on Monday resolved to urge the Centre to withdraw the approval granted to the detailed project report (DPR) of the Kalasa-Bhandura (canal) drinking water project on the Mhadei. The state cabinet resolved to demand that the Union government form a Mhadei Water Management Authority to stop illegal diversion of water.