PANAJI
Opposition politicians, civil society organisations and activists across the State were working overtime on Sunday to ensure a massive turnout at the mega rally called by the impromptu 'Save Madei Save Goa Front' collective at Virdi in Sanquelim on Monday at 4 pm.
The venue, an open ground near the Virdi-Amona bridge was picked after the permission to use the Sanquelim Municipal ground was revoked by the municipality's chief officer earlier this week earning the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Pramod Sawant government severe criticism.
On Sunday, workers were seen readying the venue. Tankers were seen watering the ground and prepping up the venue for the Monday evening rally which organisers feel is crucial to send out a strong message of Goa's solidarity in the tussle for the Mhadei with Karnataka.
Barring the Revolutionary Goans Party (RGP) all other Opposition parties -- Congress, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Goa Forward Party (GFP), TMC and NCP -- have thrown their lot behind the Save Mhadei, Save Goa front.
Meanwhile, Opposition legislators and members of the Front were busy mobilising people for the rally on Monday, which incidentally is the anniversary of the Opinion Poll, the plebiscite which ensured Goa's independent status in the Indian union.
Several environmental and social activists have also given a call to the people of Goa to come out in large numbers for this rally.
The decades old tug-of-war between Goa and Karnataka over the Mhadei river shot into the mainstream political discourse after the Central Water Commission granted consent to projects proposed by the neighbouring State to divert the river's waters at Kalasa and Bhandura.
Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) for dams at Kalasa and Bhandura on the Mhadhei's course in Karnataka were granted by the CWC in December-end last year.
Although in consonance with the August 2018 award of the Mahadayi Water Dispute Tribunal (MWDT) permitting diversion of 3.9 tmc feet of water from Mhadei's basin to that of the Malaprabha river by Karnataka, its timing is seen as a move to milk the issue in favour of the ruling BJP ahead of the Karnataka assembly elections due later this year.
In Goa, however, diversion of the river's waters is perceived by all and sundry as a death knell to the ecosystem along the nearly 71-kilometer course the river runs along in the State, especialy the Western Ghats biodiversity hotspots and the Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary.
The Goa government on its part has formally lodged its protest at the CWC nod to the Kalasa-Bhandura projects and has asked the Centre to revoke them. It has also approached the Supreme Court of India, where petitions challenging the award are already pending, with an interlocutory application seeking an injunction against Karnataka commencing any work at the cites based on the CWC consent.
