PANAJI
The Mhadei- PRAWAH (Progressive River Authority for Welfare and Harmony) on Friday decided to approach the Central government seeking legal opinion with regards to Goa’s request for joint site inspection of the Kalsa diversion project site at Kankumbi, Karnataka.
The third meeting of PRAWAH under chairman Navin Kumar was held in Goa on Friday. Goa was represented by IAS Sanjit Rodrigues, who was appointed as a Link Officer. WRD Secretary Sarpreet Singh Gill was not part of the meeting.
WRD Minister Subhash Shirodkar informed that the meeting resolved to take legal opinion from the Central government on conducting yet another joint site inspection of the Kalsa diversion project site at Kankumbi, Karnataka -- the one that was missed out during the first visit in July.
He said that during the meeting Karnataka raised strong objection to the Joint inspection while Goa insisted for the same.
"Since both the States were firm on their stand, the Authority decided to seek opinion from the Central Water Commission on the issue and accordingly decide," Shirodkar said.
Interestingly, CWC is headed by Navin Kumar himself.
The Minister explained that though WRD secretary was not present for the meeting, Link Officer and WRD director Pramod Badami were part of the meeting.
Following the request from the Goa government in April, PRAWAH team had visited the Mhadei basin areas of Goa, Karnataka and Maharashtra, in July.
However, the team failed to inspect the actual diversion site and accordingly, the outgoing chairman PM Scott in his report gave a complete skip to Karnataka’s violation.
This was strongly objected by Goa, who through a fresh communication, in August, requested the authority for another joint site inspection.
The Authority was constituted on May 22, 2023 to give effect to the Mhadei Water Dispute Tribunal (MWDT) Award passed in August 2018.
Meanwhile, Environmentalist Rajendra Kerkar has expressed strong resentment towards PRAWAH decision to approach Centre stating “looks like the PRAWAH members are in Goa for holiday and not serious about the issue”.
He also criticized the absence of the WRD secretary from the meeting, raising questions over Goa’s seriousness towards the contentious issue.
PRAWAH during its first meeting held in Goa in February, was of the view that the river diversion issue could be resolved “amicably” by the three riparian States -- Goa, Karnataka and Maharashtra.
