Team Goemkarponn
PANAJI: The Mhadei Progressive River Authority for Welfare and Harmony (PRAWAH) will hold its fourth meeting on April 22, 2025, in Bengaluru to discuss key issues surrounding the Kalasa Nala project in Karnataka and other ongoing regional concerns. A primary focus of the meeting will be the Goa government’s proposal for a joint site inspection of the project, which has been a contentious issue between Goa and Karnataka.
The meeting, initially scheduled for March 4 in Mumbai, had been postponed. This upcoming meeting will be the latest in a series of consultations on the project, which has been subject to intense scrutiny due to its environmental impact and the dispute between the two states over water sharing and diversion.
The third meeting of PRAWAH, which took place in Goa on October 25, 2024, saw the authority decide to approach the Central government for a legal opinion regarding the request for a joint site inspection of the Kalasa Nala project. Now, the April meeting will continue these discussions and further explore the implications of the project.
In addition to addressing the Kalasa Nala issue, the PRAWAH meeting will also review procedures for granting final clearances for new minor irrigation projects and drinking water projects in the region. Another significant topic to be discussed will be the Detailed Project Report (DPR) of the Virdi Large Minor Irrigation Project in Maharashtra, which has raised objections from Karnataka.
This meeting follows a series of events in the past year. In July 2024, following a request from the Goa government, the PRAWAH team visited the Mhadei basin areas across Goa, Karnataka, and Maharashtra. However, the team was unable to inspect the actual diversion site, leading to strong objections from Goa. Subsequently, Goa made a fresh request for another joint site inspection in August 2024, which will be addressed at this upcoming meeting.
PRAWAH’s first meeting was held in Goa in February 2024, and its second meeting took place in Bengaluru in July 2024. With the April 22 meeting in Bengaluru, PRAWAH aims to move forward on resolving the outstanding issues related to the Kalasa Nala project and other regional development matters
