PANAJI
The vexatious inter-state dispute over sharing of Mhadei waters between Goa and Karnataka took centre stage in the discussion on the demands for grants related to the Water Resources Department in the Goa Legislative Assembly on Thursday.
All Opposition MLAs, including the Leader of the Opposition Yuri Alemao, AAP MLAs Venzy Viegas and Cruz Silva, RGP MLA Viresh Borkar, GFP MLA Vijai Sardesai and Congress MLAs Carlos Alvares Ferreira and Altone D’Costa raised the issue in their interventions during the discussion.
Alemao said, WRD Minister Subhash Shirodkar should explain and clarify what Karnataka is currently doing vis-a-vis sharing the Mhadei waters and what the Goa government’s position on it is.
“The Karnataka government seems to have great confidence, they have done illegal work on their side. We are only talking about it. So, the government should explain what it is doing on this matter,” Alemao said, adding that the government is not having the desired dialogue.
“We had asked for a joint survey, but that was not done either. Last month, there were protests in Belgaum against the diversion of Mhadei waters. The people there feel that diverting the water of the Mhadei will pose a great threat to the forests, lakes and springs in the Western Ghats there,” Alemao said.
Alemao, Viegas and others from the Opposition also made a case for declaring the Mhadei Sanctuary as a tiger reserve as one of the strategies to defeat Karnataka’s designs to divert the river’s waters.
They said the only solution to the Mhadei conundrum is to declare Mhadei as a tiger reserve.
Alemao also said that ‘Mhadayi Prawah’ has not formally acknowledged that any illegal work has occurred at Kalsa-Bhandura.
“The government should tell the truth about Mhadei. Is there any logical solution to it? We believe in the legal process, but what is the Goa government doing when it has a double engine?” Alemao asked and demanded that the government write a letter to the Prime Minister on the Mhadei issue.
