Sharing Mahadeyi water inevitable: Parrikar

Panaji: Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on Wednesday said that sharing the water of the Mahadayi river with other states was “inevitable”.

“One has to understand that 52 km of the river runs through Goa, 35 km through Karnataka and 16 km through Maharashtra. As such, sharing of water of Mahadayi river is inevitable as it is passing through all the three states,” said Parrikar.

The Goa chief minister said that as the river passes through three states, each of them have some right over its water. He was responding to questions on the crucial water dispute during the press briefing on Wednesday.

“If someone thinks Karnataka will not get a share out of the tribunal judgement, I think he is living in a fool’s paradise,” Parrikar said. “But at the same time, Karnataka cannot take or divert water from Mahadayi basin to another basin. They have to use it for drinking purposes or utilise it within the basin,” he added.

Parrikar told reporters that the issue before the Mahadayi Water Dispute Tribunal is about the diversion of water from the basin. Parrikar added that the issue currently before the tribunal is “to ascertain whether the Mahadayi basin is in a deficit or not.”

He informed that as per the Interstate River Water Dispute Act, one cannot divert water from a deficit basin to another basin, adding that “we have proved it with documentary evidence that the Mahadeyi basin is a deficit one.”