PANAJI
The statement on Mhadei by Union Home Minister Amit Shah at a party rally in Belgavi on Saturday set the proverbial cat among the pigeons in Goa through Sunday.
Shah's comments propelled the vexed inter-State water sharing dispute with Karnataka to the discussion table at Gram Sabha meetings across North and South Goa and on the political stage Chief Minister Pramod Sawant continued to be the target with Opposition and civil society accusing him of betraying the State.
In Mhadei heartland of Sattari, the Keri Gram sabha resolved to oppose Karnataka's projects on the river while the Curti-Ponda and Korgao-Pernem panchayats condemned Shah's Mhadei diversion comments.
Assagao gram sabha also unanimously resolved not to allow diversion of Mhadei river and urged the Centre to withdraw the permission granted to the Karnataka government’s detailed project report on river Mhadei.
Down South too, the Chicalim and Camurlim pancayats also had gram sabha resolutions opposing Mhadei diversion by Karnataka unanimously passed.
While Camurlim village gram sabha demanded that the Goa government headed by Chief Minister Pramod Sawant come clear on the controversy, Chicalim gram sabha oppose the diversion of water from Mhadei with Sarpanch stating that the Mhadei was the lifeline of Goa.
The Sawant government, sandwiched as it is on the issue between the BJP's electoral posturing in Karnataka and Goa's own interests on Mhadei, has made the legal recourse in the Supreme Court its talking point.
Meanwhile the Save Mhadei Save Goa Front, which had organised a massive rally in Sanquelim on January 16, held a press conference where it threatened a mass protest movement over the diversion of Mhadei waters.
Leaders slammed the statement of Shah and hinted that massive protests would be organized in the State in the coming days. Speaking to reporters in Panaji, on Sunday, Front member Hrudaynath Shirodkar informed that in the next 15 days, the people themselves would organize protests as the BJP government has betrayed Goans on the Mhadei issue.
“There is a strong possibility of Goans getting aggressive as we are receiving calls from various quarters of taking the movement forward in an aggressive mode. However, it will be the people who will take the movement forward from now on,” Shirodkar said.
“We are getting calls of the need to close the borders but it is the people who are going to take the lead and we are going to extend support,” Shirodkar informed.
When pointed out by the reporters that the people on their own would not hit the streets unless the Front, which has been leading the movement, gives such a call, Shirodkar informed that the Front has given a platform to the people and it is now up to the people to use the platform and take the movement forward.
