Goemkarponn Desk
PANAJI: The Goa government requested a joint inspection at Kankumbi, where Karnataka has resumed work to redirect the flow of monsoonal water towards the Kalasa, in an appeal filed on Friday with the Mhadei Progressive River Authority for Water and Harmony (PRAWAH).
The government anticipates a favourable answer from PRAWAH, according to Subhash Shirodkar, Minister for Water Resources Department (WRD). After conducting the inspection, our WRD team discovered that some trenching had been done in order to divert water from the Mhadei River. There isn’t any work underway right now,” he stated.
The Minister continued, “A joint inspection will help us in exposing Karnataka’s illegal act.”
Shirodkar reaffirmed that, at the earliest opportunity, a motion for contempt against Karnataka will be filed in the Supreme Court after consulting with the Attorney General.
He emphasized that without authorization, Karnataka had even chopped down a sizable number of trees at the location, which is inside a reserved forest that the government had declared.
The interim order dated April 17, 2014, issued by the Mhadei Water Disputes Tribunal, which stipulated that Karnataka could not begin work without a revised DPR that must be approved by the Union government or the Mhadei Water Management Authority and without obtaining all necessary permissions, was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2020.
Hrudaynath Shirodkar, a member of the Save Goa Save Mhadei Front, meanwhile, vehemently denounced the actions of Karnataka and the Goa government’s inaction.
