Goa government has filed an affidavit before the Mhadei water disputes tribunal (New Delhi) which may give the state an upper hand while negotiating with Karnataka. The affidavit was filed on Monday in which the state government has stated that Karnataka has wasted or mismanaged water from Bennehalla Nalla in the Malaprabha basin.
Affidavit
Size of Malprabha as compared to Mhadei basin
“Referring to a map of the Malaprabha project, the affidavit stated that the Joul Nalla has a catchment area of 244 sq. km, and the Bennehalla Nalla, around 5,048 sq. km, more than twice the entire Mhadei basin catchment area” – as stated by TOI.
Karnataka was planning to initially divert 7.56 TMC water from the Mhadei basin to the Malprabha basin. It claimed that the water was needed for sustenance in the region. However, the Goa government in its affidavit has alleged that Karnataka is not utilising water from the two nallahs to the full potential.
Quoting the report prepared by Karnataka’s water resources department to utilize Bennehalla Nalla, Goa’s affidavit stated, “In this (proposal), it was estimated that the yield of the Bennehalla Nala was 10.92 TMC on 75% dependability, of which as per the same proposal, hardly 1.5 TMC has been put to use.”
Goa also accused Karnataka of encouraging the farming of water-guzzling crops such as sugarcane and supplying water to industries.
