‘We are on right track’: Pramod Sawant on Karnataka protests over PRAWAH visit

PANAJI: Goa chief minister Pramod Sawant on Tuesday responded to protests in Karnataka over the visit of the PRAWAH river authority for inspection of the Mahadayi basin along the Goa-Karnataka border, saying it shows that the Goa government was on the right track.

“I do not know why Karnataka is upset. It (PRAWAH) is an independent authority,” Sawant told reporters in Panaji on Tuesday, referring to protests in Belagavi in Karnataka over the visit of the Mahadayi Progressive River Authority for Water and Harmony (PRAWAH).

The PRAWAH river authority was set up by the Jal Shakti ministry in May last year to oversee compliance and implementation of the decisions of the Mahadayi Water Disputes Tribunal.

“They are conducting an inspection. Our members are on the team. It is necessary for the authority to conduct a fair inspection and that report will be submitted. If they shred my photo or burn it, it means we are on the right track,” Sawant added.

On Sunday, the team visited multiple sites for an on-the-spot assessment of the project work on the Mahadayi river basin. The Belagavi district police said over a hundred police personnel were deployed in Kanakumbi village to ensure the safety of the team.

Sawant said Goa welcomed the PRAWAH inspection and was confident that the authority would take the right decision for Goa.

Protesters in Karnataka’s Belagavi on Monday stopped a government-run interstate bus from Goa and criticised the Goa government for opposing Karnataka’s water diversion plan.

Goa has opposed any diversion of waters of the River Mahadayi which originates in the Western Ghats in Karnataka, takes a detour via Maharashtra and enters Goa as the Mandovi. The Mahadayiriver basin drains an area of 2,032 sq.km., out of which an area of 375 sqkm lies in Karnataka, 77 sqkm in Maharashtra and the rest in Goa.

Both the Goa and Karnataka governments have, for very different reasons, challenged the final award granted by the Mahadayi Interstate Water Disputes Tribunal which granted Karnataka a total of 13.42 Thousand Million Cubic Feet (TMC) of water in its August 2018 decision.