Panaji, Feb 8 (IANS) State Water Resources Minister Subhash Shirodkar, after chairing a House Committee meeting on Wednesday, said that the battle over the Mhadei water diversion will be fought at the administrative and the Supreme Court level. However, irked opposition parties said that the government should not do mere ‘time pass’, but act on it.
After chairing the preliminary meeting of the House Committee to study issues related to the Mhadei river, Shirodkar said that the meeting was fruitful and got good inputs from the members.
“We have to fight (this case) at the Administrative and Supreme Court level. We should be perfect in submission at the administrative level and should make our defence strong in the Supreme Court, these suggestions will play an important role for this,” Shirodkar said.
He said that valid points were discussed during the meeting. “It was a positive and fruitful meeting. Suggestions of members will be considered and we will go ahead,” Shirodkar added.
“We can do detailed discussions in the House Committee and also appoint consultants, committees, experts committee and seek a report. This we will do in the next one month,” he said.
Aam Aadmi Party MLA Venzy Viegas said that whatever is going on is all a ‘drama’. “We are living with a false sense of hope and security. Things that need to be done are not focused upon. The Chief Minister has compromised himself. The only issue we have is to save our Mhadei based on the environment. But they are not speaking about the process of saving the environment,” Viegas said.
“We need to protect Goa by way of eco-system, wildlife sanctuaries and tiger reserves. If we damage the route of the tiger then they will enter villages. So we need to protect their areas. This (Tiger reserve) is one of the solutions,” Viegas said.
According to Viegas, notifying the tiger reserve would make Goa’s case strong to save the Mhadei water from being diverted from the wildlife sanctuary.
“The House committee is actually a time pass,” Viegas said.
Goa Forward Party MLA Vijai Sardesai, said that Chief Minister Pramod Sawant should be summoned for a meeting. “If things are compromised from the top then whatever we are doing here (House Committee meeting) is time pass. The government has not demanded urgent hearings in the Supreme Court,” Sardesai said.
“In 2002 one such DPR was approved and later kept in abeyance after Manohar Parrikar met Atal Bihari Vajpayee with an all- party delegation, then why is the fresh DPR not kept in abeyance when the BJP has governments in the state and the centre,” he questioned.
According to Sardesai, even now when the same party is in government, why are they not meeting the Prime Minister and urging him to keep the DPR in abeyance.
The BJP government in Goa is under attack since the Central Water Commission granted permission to a Detailed Project Report of Karnataka for the disputed Kalsa-Banduri dam. The government was forced to appoint a House Committee over the issue.
–IANS
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