Mahadayi water sharing case: Why Goans are forming a 7km human chain along the river today

Crossing the Mandovi river in a ferry. The human-chain initiative is part of Goa's Mhadei Amchi Mai festival, organized in the run-up to the Supreme Court's July hearing in the river water-sharing dispute between Goa and Karnataka. (Photo by Frederick Noronha via Wikimedia Commons 4.0)

On May 20, thousands of Goans will form a human prayer chain along the banks of river Mandovi (also known as Mahadayi or Mhadei in Karnataka) in a community engagement festival called Mhadei Amchi Mai (Mhadei My Mother). Organized by the Earthivist Collective, in association with the Goa Heritage Action Group (GHAG) and the Save Mhadei Save Goa Front, the festival is a run-up to the much-anticipated Supreme Court final hearing in July this year of the long-drawn water-sharing dispute between Goa and the neighbouring Karnataka.

What’s the Goa-Karnataka water dispute all about?

The river: At its origin near the village Mabulyesheir (Bhimgad, Karnataka), the Mandovi river is a cluster of springs and is known as Bhaburnal. It forms into a river at Degaon village in Khanapur taluk of Karnataka’s Belagavi district. The west-flowing river meanders roughly 35 km through Karnataka and then 52 km through Goa before flowing into the Arabian Sea. The downstream state (Goa) constitutes a large part of the river’s catchment (78 percent), which also includes runoff from Maharashtra. Though the main tributary of Mandovi does not flow through Maharashtra, the state is also party to the water-sharing dispute.

Beginning of the dispute: The Mhadei water diversion was first planned in 1970 by engineer S.G. Balekundri. The plan was to feed Malaprabha river and store the water in Navilatirtha dam in Dharwad district. Built in the 1970s, this dam has not been filled to its capacity except three-four times, but with increasing water scarcity, Karnataka revved its demand for diversion of Mhadei water to take care of the acute water shortage of Hubballi and Dharwad cities and about 180 villages near the dam.

The dispute reached a flashpoint when in 2002, Karnataka approached the Union Ministry of Water Resources for permission to build two barrages on Mhadei’s tributaries, Kalasa and Banduri, with the intention to divert 7.56 tmcft (thousand million cubic feet) from its contribution to the Mhadei basin to Malaprabha dam. Goa filed a petition to scuttle this move with the argument that the rain-fed Mhadei river fulfils nearly 43 percent of the state’s drinking water needs and any diversion will affect the availability of potable water and negatively impact the state’s economy and ecosystem.

Goa also claims that the diversion of water violates the National Water Policy, which does not allow transfer of water from a deficient basin. According to a 1989 estimate by the National Water Development Agency, the annual usable yield of the Mhadei is 1,517 million cubic metre (mcm) but Goa argues that its annual demand for water in 2050 would be 2,674 mcm, which is much more than the river’s usable yield.

In 2006, Goa had approached the Supreme Court to stay the construction of the dams and to resolve the dispute and the Mahadayi Water Dispute Tribunal (MWDT) was set up in 2010 under the chairmanship of Justice J.M. Panchal, former Judge, Supreme Court of India.

In its appeal to the MWDT, the Goa government had argued that:

· In 1999, part of the Mhadei basin area had been declared as Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary, under the provisions of the Wildlife Protection Act 1972 and the entire area of 208 sq. km. of the Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary falls within the Mhadei basin and is also part of the Western Ghats, which are internationally recognized as a region of immense global importance for the conservation of biodiversity.

· The water of River Mhadei sustains the forest and wildlife in various other Wildlife Sanctuaries and National Parks in the state, namely, the Bhagwan Mahavir Wildlife Sanctuary in Mollem; Bondla Wildlife Sanctuary in Ponda Taluka; and Dr Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary in Tiswadi Taluka.

· Part of Mhadei basin has been identified as a biodiversity hotspot, and is inhabited by rare, endangered and threatened species. These species include: some endemic butterfly species, caecilians, frogs, freshwater species as well as animal species like clinotarsus, cuticeps or bicoloured frogs. The basin is also home to arboreal mammals like the slender loris, flying squirrels and giant squirrels as well as the endangered Wroughton’s free-tailed bat and Theobald’s tomb bat, which is on the rare species list. The Barapedi caves in Mhadei valley are the only place where Wroughton’s free-tailed bat is found in the whole world.

· The inland waterways of Goa are a lifeline of Goa and any attempt to reduce the flow of Mhadei river, even to a minuscule extent, will cause the navigational traffic in inland waterways of Goa, to be completely disrupted and such disruption will have disastrous effects on the economy of the state.

The MWDT submitted its report in August 2018, but the dispute is still unresolved.

On December 30, 2022, the then Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai announced that the government had received clearance from Union government following the Central Water Commission (CWC) approving the Detailed Project Report (DPR) to construct the Kalasa Bhandura canal to divert water from the upper reaches of Mhadei to the Malaprabha basin. On February 13, 2023, the Supreme Court heard Goa’s interlocutory application that sought to stop Karnataka from undertaking construction activity based on the DPR approved by the Centre. Though Goa sought interim relief from the Supreme Court on the matter, the latter said that Karnataka has to obtain environmental and wildlife clearances first.

The Supreme Court has fixed the final hearing in the case for July, 2023. A definite hearing date is yet to be announced. Until then, the people of Goa will keep fighting for Mhadei Amchi Mai (Mhadei, My Mother).