MAPUSA
The united opposition took the government to task for failing to resolve the Mhadei issue even as Chief Minister Pramod Sawant told the House that three salinity reports of the Mhadei River have been submitted to the Jal Shakti ministry while contempt petitions against the neighbouring State is due to come up in Supreme Court in August and September.
From failing to appoint good lawyers to the perception that the State government was going slow on the Mhadei issue, the opposition questioned the treasury benches on its resolve in finding a solution to the issue.
“The neighbouring government is blatantly violating the Supreme Court order on Mhadei and we are only filing petitions, SLPs and contempt petitions. Is this government serious in resolving the Mhadei diversion issue? Why did it take the government nine months to file a special leave petition,” Khuante said, while raising the issue during the Question Hour.
Demanding the present status of Mhadei, the Porvorim MLA sought to know how much diversion has been done and how many illegalities the neighbouring State carried out on the Mhadei basin.
Water Resources Minister, Filipe Neri informed the House that all the illegalities carried out by the Karnataka government have been brought to the attention of the Supreme Court.
“We have filed relevant petitions in the SC on all illegal activities carried out by the Karnataka government. Besides we have filed two contempt petitions against the same government for diverting the river,” Neri said.
Interjecting in the debate, Chief Minister, Pramod Sawant said the government was very much concerned and serious on resolving the Mhadei issue.
“The first contempt petition is coming up for hearing on Sept 8, 2021, while the second contempt petition is coming up on Aug 2, 2021,” Sawant said.
The CM also pointed out that the salinity report of the Mhadei River has been conducted on three different occasions and also submitted to the Jal Shakti ministry.
Khaunte, however, disputed the assertion and said no salinity report was conducted in the month of May.
Fatorda MLA Vijai Sardessai sought to know whether the government would resolve the Mhadei issue before going to the 2022 assembly elections.
“The SC has appointed a three-member committee which visited the site and have already submitted separate individual reports in the matter. We are studying how to quantify the water that is being diverted,” said Neri.
He, however, said no timeline can be given on when the issue will be resolved.
