Mhadei dispute: Goa seeks action against Karnataka officials
Panaji, Aug 20 : In a disobedience petition filed before the Mhadei Inter-state Water Disputes Tribunal in the national capital, the Goa government has sought the arrest of officials of the Karnataka government for violation of the adjudicating body's orders.
The petition comes a week after the Tribunal in its award allotted 13.42 thousand million cubic feet (tmcft) water to Karnataka, resolving a decades-old dispute primarily between Goa and Karnataka, as well as Maharashtra government's claim over sharing of water from the Mhadei river, also known as the Mahadayi in Karnataka.
"In our prayer, we have prayed for the arrest of the officials of Karnataka who are involved in these violations and attachment of properties of the State of Karnataka," state's Advocate General Dattaprasad Lawande told reporters in Panaji.
He also said that the disobedience petition was filed under Rule 2A of the Civil Procedure Code before the Tribunal.
The Goa government has maintained that despite an injunction ordered by the Tribunal against actual diversion of the Mhadei water -- before the award was delivered -- Karnataka had already started diversion of the water using canals at Kalsa village, located on the Goa-Karnataka border.
The Goa government now wants the officials responsible for "illegally" diverting the water arrested and the canals built by them attached by the Tribunal.
Last week, the Tribunal which was hearing a dispute between Goa, Karnataka and Maharashtra over sharing of water from the Mhadei river had allotted 13.42 tmcft (including 7.56 tmcft for diversion into the depleted Malaprabha river basin) from the Mhadei river basin to Karnataka, as against 36.55 tmcft demanded by the southern state, while also allotting 1.33 tmcft to Maharashtra.
Mhadei river is known as a lifeline in the northern parts of the state. It originates in Karnataka and meets the Arabian Sea in Panaji in Goa, while briefly flowing through the territory of Maharashtra.
While 78 per cent of the basin of the Mhadei river lies in Goa, 42.79 per cent of the basin is located in Karnataka and a small portion comes under Maharashtra.
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Death toll from Israeli strikes in northeast Lebanon rises from 8 to 24, Lebanese news agency says
Deir al-Balah, Nov 1: Israeli airstrikes on Friday killed at least 24 people in northeastern Lebanon, the country's news agency said, raising the death toll from eight there.
It was the latest deadly toll in the area since the conflict between Israel and the Lebanese group Hezbollah escalated last month.
Israel's military has said that its operation in Lebanon is targeting Hezbollah's military infrastructure.
Lebanon's state National news Agency reported four airstrikes in different villages across country's northeast, saying rescuers were still searching for survivors in Younine, a town in the Bekaa Valley, from the rubble of a targeted house.
Hussein Haj Hassan, a Lebanese lawmaker representing the region in Baalbek-Hermel region, said that 60,000 people have already fled their homes in the area due to Israeli bombardment.
