MARGAO
Asserting that there’s no need to prepone the February 8 meeting of the House Committee on Mhadei, Panel Chairman and Water Resources Department (WRD) Minister Subhash Shirodkar on Friday exuded confidence that Goa and the Goa government will have better chances to win the case when the matter is decided the Supreme Court on February 13.
During a brief interaction on the contentious river Mhadei issue, Shirodkar said it is a fact that Karnataka wants to take the waters of river Mhadei, while Goa has lodged their objection to the river water diversion.
He said the Goa government has lodged its objections with the Ministry of Forest and Environment to the plan to divert the waters of Mhadei. “Our government counsels have presented our case before these departments as well as before the Supreme Court. The hearing of the matter is scheduled to come up before the Supreme Court on February 13,” he said, exuding confidence that Goa and the Goa government have more chances to win the legal battle.
Reminding the media that he has convened a meeting of the House Committee on Mhadei as chairman of the panel, Shirodkar, however, said there’s no need to prepone the February 8 meeting.
After Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s damning revelation at the rally in Belgavi-Karnataka last week, there was a demand made in certain quarters for the preponing of the House Committee meeting to discuss the contentious issue.
To a question on how he intends to go about the February 13 meeting, Shirodkar said: “Let’s wait and see for the members of the House Committee to raise their points for discussions."
