the goan I network
PANAJI
The Opposition Congress held the first of its ‘Mhadei Zagor’ protests in Valpoi and targeted Health Minister Vishwajit Rane with Goa Pradesh Congress Committee president, Girish Chodankar launching a frontal attack.
“The people of Sattari will teach ‘Baba of Sattari’ and his political party BJP a lesson for their attempt to hijack ‘Mother Mhadei’,” Chodankar said addressing the demonstrators at the Deputy Collector’s office at
Valpoi. The protest was organised against the Environmental Clearance given to Karnataka for the Kalsa-Bhandura project for diversion of Mhadei river waters.
Chodankar said, it is clear that only the Modi-Shah duo is running the government at the Centre and none of the ministers have any say even on matters related to the portfolios they hold. This is evident from the statement made by Prakash Javdekar wherein he admitted ignorance about the EC letter issued to Karnataka by his own ministry, Chodankar said.
His statement has further exposed that the Twitter accounts of all the ministers are handled by PMO and BJP headquarters,
he said.
Valpoi Block Congress president Dasharath Mahale said that it was unfortunate that the local MLA Vishawajit has not shown any interest to protest against the pro-Karnataka decision of the Centre on Mhadei.
“The health minister is frequently camping in Delhi to save his chair, but has no time to raise issues pertaining to Mhadei, the lifeline
of Goa. Mhadei flows from Valpoi taluka and Valpoikars are totally dependent on this river, but he is not bothered about it,” Mahale said.
Valpoi Mahila Congress president Roshan Dessai said Congress with the support of women from Valpoi will fight to protect the identity of Goa and lead a people’s agitation to ensure that permission granted to Karnataka is withdrawn.
Congress leader Ranjit Rane also warned the government not to play with the sentiments of the people for political mileage in Karnataka.
He said, Valpoikars will lead a morcha if the BJP government does not withdraw the consent letter given to Karnataka.
The protesters later handed over a memorandum to the Deputy Collector and lodged a strong protest against the grant of EC to Kalsa-Bhandura project.
