Border with Karnataka needs re-demarcation: Goa law panel

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a function here, Khalap said the state's eastern border as defined by the Portuguese was detrimental to Goa's interests.

"If we re-demarcate our borders on the basis of the data provided in the Mahajan Commission report, most of Goa's water resource worries would be over," said Khalap, a former minister of state for law in the central government. He added that there was a need to re-organise Goa's borders on the basis of geography and linguistic continuity as suggested in the commission's report.  
"Goa's present borders are only an accident of history. When the Mahajan Commission was appointed, Goa was still under the Portuguese rule. It is time we make use of the statistical data and findings of the report now, because Goa has already missed out on one opportunity in 1960," he added.

Khalap said that Goa needed to safeguard its water resources which were under threat from excessive mining and diversion of its principal water source - the Mandovi, also known as the Mahadei river - by Karnataka.

"Karnataka is trying to divert a west flowing river towards the east. The Goa government must use all its resources to ensure that the Mhadei water dispute between the two states is resolved," Khalap said. Goa's principal water reservoirs - Selaulim in south Goa and Anjunem in north Goa - also need to be protected from mining silt being dumped in them, he added.