Bengaluru: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday wrote a letter to Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar to fix a date for holding talks to find an amicable solution for Mahadayi water dispute between Goa, Karnataka and Maharashtra as per the advice of Mahadayi Water Dispute Tribunal.
It may be recalled that Mahadayi Water Dispute Tribunal on September 1 advised Chief Ministers of Karnataka, Goa and Maharashtra to explore the possibility of arriving at an amicable solution to the pending water disputes by holding talks and negotiations among themselves. The Judges of Mahadayi Water Dispute Tribunal had also informed that the Chief Ministers of three states may work out an amicable solution with or without mediation of a third party. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had welcomed the decision and announced that he would be writing a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to convene the meeting of three chief ministers to find a solution to Mahadayi water dispute.

In a letter dated (Sept 6, CM 40 OSG 2016), Siddaramaiah has advised Goa Chief Minister to direct the Chief Secretary of Goa to contact the Chief Secretary of Karnataka to fix the date for talks. “In view of this, on behalf of riparian State of Karnataka it would be my pleasure to host the first round of talks. I sincerely hope you would, in the true spirit of cooperation and coordination, agree to your State participating in the talks. I, therefore, request you to instruct your State’s Chief Secretary to interact with my State’s Chief Secretary in finalizing the date of meeting this month of September, 2016,” Siddaramaiah said in the letter to Goa Chief Minister.