Goa keen on protecting its interest in Mahadayi issue: Governor

The Goa government is keen to protect the state's interests in the ongoing Mahadayi inter-state water dispute with Karnataka and Maharashtra, Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari said in his inaugural address to the state legislative assembly during the ongoing winter session.

"My government is keen to protect the interest of the State in the Mahadayi Water Dispute and has challenged the award of the Mahadayi Tribunal and a special leave petition is filed in the apex court which has been admitted," Koshyari said.

Goa and Karnataka are currently battling out a two-decade-long dispute over the sharing of the Mahadayi river in the Supreme Court after both expressed reservations about the recommendations by the Mahadayi Water Dispute Tribunal in 2018.

"(The Union) Jal Shakti Ministry has considered the objections taking into account the salinity zone in the yield calculation of the basin and the salinity study has been entrusted to National Institute of Hydrology, Roorkee, who has conducted one inspection in September 2020 and the period of the study has been extended to May 2021 so that the salinity in the lean season can be examined by NIH," he also said.

Koshyari also said that the Goa government had intimated the Supreme Court of Karnataka's attempts to divert the river water through a fresh contempt petition filed before the apex court in October 2020.

Goa has also opposed the diversion of water from the Mahadayi river basin through the Kalasa-Bhanduri project claiming it would cause “ecological devastation” in Goa.