Karnataka paid the witness to appear before tribunal: Goa Min Vinod Palyekar

Goa Water Resources Minister Vinod Palyekar today accused Karnataka of "paying" money to a witness to appear before a tribunal, which was looking into the dispute over the sharing of the Mahadayi river water between the two states.

Karnataka and Goa, the riparian states of the Mahadayi (known as Mandovi in Goa), have been locked in a bitter battle over the sharing of the water of the river, which originates in Belagavi in Karnataka.

The matter is pending before the Mahadayi Water Dispute Tribunal.

In a series of tweets, Palyekar, who has been engaged in a war of words with the Congress government in Karnataka, made fresh accusations against the neighbouring state.

"Goa never paid for its witnesses. Our witnesses worked keeping in mind #GoemGoenkarGoemkarponn (interest of the state) in #Mahadayi matter (sic)," one of his tweets read.

"Unlike Karnataka witness A K Gosain who had confessed in tribunal that he was paid 50k per day by Karnataka for being the witness and 5 lakhs to prepare report (sic)," the minister further said.

The Goa government has claimed that Karnataka has resumed work on a tributary canal of the river at Kankumbi village, in "violation" of a Supreme Court order.

Palyekar had said the state would file contempt petitions against Karnataka in the apex court and also in the tribunal.

Meanwhile, Karnataka Irrigation Minister M B Patil had visited Kankumbi yesterday and said that the claims made by Goa were "false". He had also said that no fresh work was going on at the proposed dam site.

Palyekar, in a late evening statement yesterday, had called Karnataka "habitual liars" on the Mahadayi issue.

The Goa government made a representation before the tribunal on the river-sharing issue yesterday.