Goa Water Resources Development (WRD) Minister Vinod Palienkar on Thursday evening took on Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar over the Mahadayi river dispute issue reiterating that he was firm on his resolve not to release any water to Karnataka ahead of the tribunal verdict.
Speaking to presspersons after a delegation of Mahadayi Bachav Abhiyan(MBA) led by the former Minister called on him, pleading him to take a firm view on the issue, Mr. Palienkar said: “I have made my stand very clear on Mahadayi river water. Once we take a stand on an issue we do not change it.”
The Minister, a member of the Goa Forward Party (GFP), a BJP ally, has been insisting that not a drop of water would be shared with Karnataka sans tribunal verdict, claiming the river is a critical source of water.
Mr. Palienkar is on the record calling Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar’s letter to the Karnataka BJP chief B.S. Yeddyurappa a “political stunt.”
“If someone thinks that Mahadayi water cannot be taken by Karnataka, he is living in fool’s paradise,” said Mr. Palienkar. “He doesn’t understand law. (If) a river flows through three States including Karnataka, how can you deny water to them? But they cannot take the water to some other area. They have to drink it or they have to use it in that area only.”
Mr. Parrikar had told presspersons on Wednesday that Goa was opposed to transfer of water from the deficit Mahadayi basin to other basins.
