The Hindu : Karnataka News : ‘There is no water dispute between Goa and Karnataka'

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‘There is no water dispute between Goa and Karnataka'

Special Correspondent

Goa opposing Mhadei project on environmental grounds, says MP

PANAJI: Goa Rajya Sabha MP Shantaram Naik has requested Union Minister for Water Resources Pawan Kumar Bansal to ensure that the Union Government incorporates terms of reference in the notification issued by it appointing a tribunal for the Mhadei river dispute.

Mr. Naik's request is with reference to the Union Government's notification issued on November 16 for constituting the tribunal under the chairmanship of Justice J.M. Panchal to find a solution to the dispute between Goa and Karnataka.

In his letter to Mr. Bansal on Wednesday, a copy of which was made available to The Hindu, Mr. Naik has said that Goa is not demanding any share in the water and, as such, there is no “water dispute” between the two States in this connection.

Goa is opposed to the project on the ground that the project, if completed, would destroy the fragile ecology of the coastal State and that it would constitute a dangerous environmental hazard to the State. In this backdrop, one of the fundamental terms of reference in the case has to be whether Karnataka should be permitted to construct the project, Mr. Naik has said in his letter.

Mr. Naik has said that the Union Government should frame terms of reference allowing the tribunal to go into whether Karnataka should be permitted to construct the project in the light of the contention of Goa.

“If the Union Government is of the opinion that the matter should be addressed only through the issues framed by the tribunal itself, then the notification of November 16 needs to be amended to give scope to the tribunal to frame the issues,” Mr. Naik has said in his letter.

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