A few months ago our Hon’ble CM had thundered that Mhadei was akin to his mother and that he would not allow Karnataka to draw a drop of water from the river basin. Many hot shot advocates and Devidas Pangam, the Advocate General for Goa were engaged by the government to represent it’s case in the Apex Court and Mhadei Water Disputes Tribunal. Nearly Rs 10 crores was spent on the professional fees of the legal luminaries and an additional Rs 5 crores was spent on sundry consultants but no constructive result has been forthcoming.
To divert the attention of the public and buy time, a fancy committee by the name of PRAWAH was constituted which Sawant touted as a panacea for all Mhadei ills afflicting the State. But on ground, the inter connecting open-cut canals built by Karnataka is enabling the full flow of the Kalasa nullah water from the Mhadei basin to the Malaprabha river. Although the Karnataka government had given an undertaking that the State would not utilize water from the Kalasa nullah, it did not stick to it’s word, the Goa sarkar could do precious little to stop the violation despite engaging a battery of high priced legal eagles. Goa has never seen such an incompetent bunch of self seeking politicians masquerading as the government.
