We are strong on contempt plea against Karnataka over Mahadayi river issue: Goa CM
Oct 07, 2020
Panaji (Goa) [India], October 7 : Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Wednesday expressed confidence over the contempt petition filed in Supreme Court against Karnataka by the state government, on the Mahadayi river issue.
"We are very clear about the Mahadayi river issue. We have filed a contempt petition (against Karnataka), we are strong on that and will follow it in Supreme Court," said Chief Minister Sawant.
This comes after the Goa government filed a petition in the SC on Tuesday against the neighboring state for "diverting" Mahadayi river water.
He had said that this contempt petition is, in addition to an earlier contempt filed in the apex court in the month of August 2018, when Karnataka had engaged in a similar "mischief".
"From 2002 till 2020, the Mahadayi water dispute is going on between Goa, State of Karnataka and Maharashtra. In 2006-07, the Congress government gave permission to construct Virdi dam. I have raised the issue of salinity in the river. After the salinity study, we will get to know about the water problem," Sawant had said.
BJP is the ruling party in both Goa and Karnataka.
According to Goa Chief Minister, the Mahadayi water dispute between three co-basins in Goa, Karnataka, and Maharashtra occurred in 2002 when the coastal state made a formal complaint with the Ministry of Water Resources, Union of India.
In the complaint, the state had requested for setting up of a Tribunal under the "Interstate River Water Disputes Act 1956" as Karnataka had planned schemes to "divert 7.56 TMC of Mahadayi Water on Malaprabha Basin for alleged drinking water needs of Hubli Dharwad twin cities and enroute villages".
