PANAJI: The Goa government has again ruled out the possibility of agreeing to an out-of-court settlement over the Goa-Karnataka Mahadayi water diversion issue and reiterated that it will accept whatever is decided by the water dispute tribunal.
In the context of the Karnataka government’s move to appeal against the tribunal’s recent interim verdict in the Supreme Court, Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar told The Hindu that Mahadayi is the coastal State’s lifeline and any compromise on its future was not possible. He said he has already told a delegation of Dalit organisations from Karnataka who met him appealing for an out-of-court settlement in the dispute that Goa will only go by the tribunal’s verdict. Earlier, the Karnataka Chief Minister, a delegation of lawyers and others had tried to convince the Goa government to agree to an out-of-court settlement, but Mr. Parsekar declined to divert from any solution other than the tribunal ruling.
Representatives of the Karunada Sene, Samatha Sainik Dal, RPI and Karanataka Rajya Raitha Sangha (farmers’ association) met the Goa Chief Minister and urged him to find an amicable solution to the issue. Recently, the Delhi-based Goa-Karnataka water disputes tribunal, in its interim order, had rejected Karnataka’s plea to divert the Mahadayi waters, leading to an outrage and protests from the people of Karnataka.
Karnataka is looking to divert the Mahadayi’s waters to the Malaprabha basin to provide water to Hubli and Dharwad districts, which have been declared drought-hit.
