Goa files objections to Karnataka's fresh DPR on Kalasa-Bhandura

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The Goa government is concerned about the developments in the ongoing Mahadayi river inter-state dispute, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said on Tuesday, after Karnataka submitted a fresh detailed project report related to the Kalasa-Bhandura project to the central government.

"We know that they have submitted a new DPR. We are concerned about it, but we are on track. We are in co-ordination with the central government," Sawant told reporters at the State Secretariat.

The Chief Minister also said, that the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, would not distract his government from keeping track of the developments in the two-decade-old inter-state water dispute over the waters of the Mahadayi (Mhadei in Goa) river.

"We are serious about the Mahadayi issue. I have not forgotten it, even in the midst of the Covid-19 battle. I am in touch with the advocate general and the legal team. The objection which needs to be placed on record has been (filed) by the Goa government," Sawant said.

The ruling BJP-led coalition government has been on the backfoot, ever since the central government, following a Supreme Court directive, notified the award given by the Mahadayi Interstate Water Dispute Tribunal, making the coast clear for the Karnataka government to start construction of the disputed Kalasa-Bhandura dam project, which aims to divert water from the Mahadayi basin to the deficit basin of the Malaprabha river.

Goa, Karnataka are battling out a two-decade-long dispute over the sharing of the Mahadayi river in the Supreme Court, after both parties expressed reservations about the award by the Mahadayi Water Dispute Tribunal in 2018.

Goa has also opposed the diversion of water from the Mahadayi river basin through the Kalasa-Bhandura project claiming it would cause “ecological devastation” in Goa.