the goan I network
MARGAO
Terming the Centre’s decision on issuing NOC to Karnataka on the Mhadei issue as highly illegal and condemnable, veteran Congress leader and Navelim MLA, Luizinho Faleiro on Thursday demanded that the Goa government initiate all possible steps to protect the interests of the State by taking the matter to the Supreme Court or the Green Tribunal.
The Congress MLA further slammed the government saying the administration in the State has come to a grinding halt because of the serious financial position of the government.
During an interaction with the media at Navelim on Thursday morning, Faleiro said that Mhadei has been the lifeline of Goa and the Goa government should stop the Karnataka government as well as the Centre from bulldozing against the people of Goa, the State’s environment and ecology. “It is shocking and surprising that the Centre issued the NOC without consulting with the people of Goa and neighbouring Maharashtra. This is to be condemned by all. The Centre should not bring politics into the issue which is dear to the hearts of Goans,” he said.
Faleiro recalled that during his stint in Delhi around a decade ago, he had drawn attention of the then State government headed by Digambar Kamat how the Karnataka government was going about the Mhadei work without permissions. “The then government had gone to the River Water Disputes Tribunal which ruled in favour of Goa, but the Karnataka government seemed to have committed contempt of court,” he said, while demanding withdrawal of the NOC by the Centre to Karnataka.
Meanwhile, Faleiro said many a development project in the State has been hit for want of finances. “We should be worried about the financial position of the State as the State has borrowed Rs 300 crore from the RBI. Let us only pray to the Almighty to save our country and the State,” he said, adding that revenue earnings has hit a low following the closure of mining and the collapse of the economy.
