No chance of settlement of Mhadei issue out of court: Goa CM

Panaji: Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Friday ruled out any possibility of an out-of-court settlement on the ongoing Mhadei interstate river water dispute with Karnataka.

Sawant also said that his government was firm on its contempt petition filed against Karnataka for diverting the flow of the Mhadei river.

"There is no question of an out-of-court settlement. We have already filed a contempt petition. We are firm on it," Sawant told reporters.

Sawant's comments come days after overtures by the Karnataka government's special representative Shankargouda Patil, who had said that the Chief Ministers of both states, namely BS Yediyurappa and Sawant should meet and resolve the river dispute, instead of letting the courts decide on the matter.

Mhadei, also known as the Mandovi river in Goa and Mahadayi in Karnataka, is considered a lifeline in the northern parts of Goa.

It originates in Karnataka and meets the Arabian Sea in Panaji in Goa, while briefly flowing through Maharashtra.

While the river runs 28.8 km in Karnataka, it is over 50 km in length in the state Goa. Goa, Karnataka are battling out a two decade-long dispute over the sharing of the Mhadei waters.

Last month, the Goa government filed the contempt petition in the Supreme Court, alleging Karnataka had illegally diverted water from the Mhadei river basin via the newly constructed Kalasa-Banduri canal.

The Goa government had filed a special leave petition in the apex court last year, challenging the Mhadei Water Dispute Tribunal award in 2018, which allowed Karnataka to divert 13.42 TMC water from the river basin. The SLP had also said that Karnataka was diverting more water than what was allotted.