Bengaluru, Aug 14: In a partial relief for Karnataka, the Mahadayi River Water Tribunal on Tuesday ruled that the state will get 13.5 TMC feet of water from the Mahadayi, thus putting an end to the 50-year-old water dispute with Goa, by giving an additional 5 TMC water to the southern state.
The tribunal has allocated 5.5 TMC feet water to the Mumbai-Karnataka region for drinking purposes, 8.2 TMC for power generation, 1.12 TMC and 2.18 TMC for Kalasa and Banduri streams, respectively.
Goa had maintained in its argument that its population heavily depends on the Mahadayi water and had also expressed fears that Karnataka would stock water to irrigate other regions of the state.
The ruling pronounced by retired Justice JM Panchal in New Delhi was welcomed by the Mahadayi Horata Samithi, which has expressed satisfaction over the judgment, claiming that justice has finally been done to the people of Karnataka.
The Mahadayi water issues have often led Goa and Karnataka to engage in a bitter battle of words while opposition BJP and ruling JDS-Congress combine in Karnataka have also been at loggerheads over the vexed dispute between Goa and Karnataka, in which Maharashtra is also a party.
After the three states failed to resolve the issue amicably, the matter was referred to a tribunal set up by the Congress-led UPA-2 in 2010. After hearing all three states, the tribunal on Tuesday pronounced its verdict.
Senior BJP leader and MP Shobha Karandlaje has also hailed the verdict and demanded that the Karnataka government takes up the irrigation projects in Mahadayi immediately.
Karnataka government is yet to react to the verdict.
Mahadayi was one of the key poll issues in the recent Karnataka Assembly elections, in which Congress and JDS had accused the BJP-led central government of not doing enough to resolve the crisis.
After the judgment, Hubli-Dharwad twin city and over 150 villages in the region are likely to get Mahadayi water for drinking.
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