Karnataka has decided to accept Goa’s offer of talks on the Mahadayi river water sharing issue, but with a condition that the neighboring state should allow use of 7.56 tmcft of drinking water, in a single meeting.
M.G. Patil, Minister for Water Resources, told reporters here on Friday that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was willing to go to Goa, cutting short his state tour, if a meeting is called in one or two days. “But, if Goa government keeps postponing the meeting, adjourning or prolonging the issue over several meetings, then it is politics... we don’t want that,” he said.
Stating that Goa chief minister’s Manihar Parrikar’s letter to BJP state president B.S. Yeddyurappa was “not according to protocol”, Mr. Patil said: “Mr. Parrikar should have either written to Mr. Siddaramaiah, me or the state chief secretary. However, we are overlooking the protocol violation in the interest of the people of the state. We are also ignoring the ‘insult’ meted out to us by Goa’s Water Resources Minister Vinod Palekar, who described our attempts at holding talks with Goa on the Mahadayi issue as ‘dirty politics’. We are willing to attend any meeting convened by Mr. Parrikar on the issue.”
To a question, he said Maharashtra would be intimated about the possibility of talks and would be invited to the talks if Goa were to finalize a date and place.
According to Central Water Commission, the yield of the Mahadayi basin is 200 tmcft. Of this, the yield arising in Karnataka is 45 tmcft. “However, as per our proposed projects, our claim on Mahadayi is 35 tmcft. But we will not discuss any of this in the meeting... we will only seek Goa's approval to use the 7.56 tmcft allowed by the Union Government in 2002. This was put in abeyance by the centre in a few months post approval, on the objections of Goa. If Mr. Parrikar agrees to take back his objections amd allow us to go ahead with drinking water works for 7.56 tmcft, we will be happy.” he added.
