the goan I network
PANAJI
Mhadei Bachao Andolan (MBA) on Thursday called on Abhiyan President Nirmala Sawant to extend support to the movement. Representatives Aravind Bhatikar, Subhash Velingkar and Elvis Gomes went to meet Sawant.
Sawant is reported to have not only extended her support to the movement, but also shared important legal papers with the team. Following the meeting, the MBA said they will study the papers to take the issue forward legally.
Meanwhile, 137 NGOs and groups have joined in the MBA, Velingkar said. They will hold a campaign and protests from November 25 to December 9 across Goa in all the talukas. All the 137 NGOs/groups will co-ordinate, he said.
“We will also hold the local MLAs responsible as well. They are responsible to the people who voted for them, and not to the government. They need to support the people and threaten to withdraw support from the government if the government goes ahead with allowing Karnataka to set up the Kalasa-Bhanduri project,” Velingkar told the media.
Meanwhile, when asked why the MBA did not meet Minister for Environment Prakash Javadekar when he came to Goa for the inauguration of the Film Festival of India, Velingkar said, “Javadekar is a nobody. Our target is not the Central government but the State government. The State government is giving us all bogus information. This government is our target. We are in the process of studying the legal papers.”
Gomes added that the group had already found certain legalities that the State government was by-passing to allow Karnataka to go ahead with the project.
Members of the MBA had on Wednesday disrupted the speech of Javadekar at the inauguration of the IFFI shouting slogans about saving Mhadei.
Party members and sympathizers from Opposition parties including Congress, Goa Forward Party and members of civil society also staged a protest outside the IFFI opening ceremony venue and criticized Javadekar’s refusal to withdraw the MoEF&CC letter to Karnataka which gives the virtual nod to its Kalasa-Banduri project.
Several of the protesters were arrested some of who were identified as Hrudaynath Shirodkar, Rajan Ghate, Santosh Sawant, Mahesh Mhambre and Durgadas Kamat.
