FOLLOWING an all-party meeting on Wednesday the Goa government has decided to file a special petition before the Supreme Court to urge it to issue  directive to the Karnataka government to stop any further work on its Kalsa-Bhandura project that is diverting the Mhadei waters, pending the decision of a tribunal to be constituted by the Centre for resolving the inter-state dispute.

 The resolution has the concurrence of the Congress, BJP, Nationalist Congress Party and Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party and thus has a special weightage of political consensus. The Chief Minister, Mr Digambar Kamat is also going to meet the Union Minister for Water Resources, Mr Pawan Bansal in Delhi later this week. The Goa government had earlier called upon the Karnataka government to discontinue the work of the Kalsa-Bhandura project. It is indeed wrong on the part of the Karnataka government to go on with the project when the central government has already decided to set up a tribunal to settle disputes over distribution of Mhadei river waters between the two states. Where is the hurry for Karnataka when the central government has already filed an affidavit before the Supreme Court regarding its decision to constitute a tribunal to resolve the Mhadei issue?
It is necessary to remember that the central government’s decision to set up a tribunal for Mhadei basin favours Goa because being a small state it does not have the same political weight and influence as Karnataka can wield at the Centre. A statutory intervention was the last thing Karnataka wanted. So Karnataka angrily reacted to the union cabinet’s decision to constitute a tribunal on Mhadei water dispute, describing it as a ‘politically motivated’ and ‘unilateral’ decision. The cabinet decision was ‘politically opportunistic and intended to please Goa and hurt the legitimate interest of Karnataka,’ the Karnataka Water Resources Minister, Mr Basavaraj Bommai told the media. Karnataka blamed Goa for adopting non-cooperative approach and declining to attend the inter-state meeting for finalising hydrological studies. Karnataka did a lot of political lobbying, even from the Chief Minister, Mr B S Yeddyurappa to the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, in order to stall the cabinet decision. But the Centre stood by its decision because the Prime Minister and his colleagues as well as planners of water resources thought a tribunal was the best way to ensure a fair and just distribution of the Mhadei waters.  
Karnataka showed its defiance by continuing with the Kalsa-Bhandura project. This project involves diversion of 7.5 TMC of Mhadei water to Malaprabha sub-basin to meet the drinking water requirements of the twin cities of Hubli-Dharwad. Goa’s protests that the work should be discontinued in view of the setting up of a tribunal were ignored by Karnataka. Karnataka argued that that the union ministry of water resources cleared the project in April 2002 but it was placed in abeyance in September that year at the instance of Goa. Karnataka claims to have already completed 75 per cent of work on the project at a cost of about Rs 40 crore. When the matter was brought to the notice of the Supreme Court, it gave a general directive to the Karnataka government not to divert the Mhadei water but did not say anything about the ongoing Kalsa-Bhandura project. Goa’s stand was clear: it is only the tribunal that can settle all outstanding issues and hence the Kalsa-Bhandura project must be discontinued.
The Mhadei, which is known as Mandovi in Goa, meets a major part of the state’s drinking water and irrigation needs. The Kalsa-Bhandura canal will divert water from Kalsa nullah to the Malaprabha River. The water of Kalsa nullah will flow eastward rather than westward toward Goa in the monsoon, thus affecting water volume in Goa that has 70 per cent of the Mhadei’s basin and its Mhadei wildlife sanctuary dependent on the river. For making the diversion, Karnataka has been digging through forests without permission from the central environment ministry. Goa’s civil society groups say Karnataka has already felled a large number of forest trees. The tree felling could lead to deficit rainfall. Both the Centre and the Supreme Court must intervene very promptly, because Karnataka is using the time taken to set up the tribunal to complete the project and leave it as a ‘fait accompli’ for Goa.