PANAJI
The Congress party has accused Chief Minister Pramod Sawant of being a habitual liar over claims that Mhadei Water Dispute Tribunal was formed during his term as the CM, against the fact that the tribunal was notified under Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's regime on November 16, 2010.
Congress General Secretary Advocate Shriniwas Khalap, while addressing the media, took a dig at CM Sawant questioning why he did not take credit for the approval to the DPR of the Kalasa Bhandura Project, which aims to divert Mhadei water.
“It is only after the BJP government came to power in Goa in 2012 and at the Centre in 2014 that our lifeline, Mhadei is being murdered. It all began when the then CM Late Manohar Parrikar, wrote a compromising letter to the BJP Leader of Karnataka B S Yediurappa, on December 21, 2017. On October 17, 2019, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change granted Environmental Impact Assessment Clearance to Karnataka for the Kalasa Bhandura Project and on December 24, 2019, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar informed the Minister for Home Affairs of Karnataka, Basavaraj Bommai, in writing that the EIA Notification would not be kept in abeyance, allowing Karnataka to commence the work on the Kalasa Bhandura Project,” Khalap said.
The Congressman further stated these facts clearly indicated “Murder of Mother Mhadei” was a carefully planned and executed scheme by the BJP governments at the Centre, Karnataka, and Goa for political gains. While pointing at BJP’s failure to raise the issue during BJP Central leaders’ visit to Karnataka, Khalap said that it is the Congress party that has consistently fought for Mhadei through various programmes.
