THURSDAY, APRIL 25, 2024
Rohan Khaunte
The Mhadei is not just a water source, it’s the lifeline of Goa and it’s nourishing presence signifies the very existence of Gomantak.
While CM is out to play Centre pleasing party politics with Mhadei, the people of Goa need to understand the deep nourishing impact of its presence on the very existence of Goa & its international standing in the nature tourism circuit.
Throughout centuries, this pure & perennial flow has enriched the aquatic flora and fauna of Goa. The greenery abound is also a boon of this life sustaining water source that feeds our rivers & streams creating a balanced natural environment.
While each of the riparian states have the right to the natural source, none of the states should have the right to divert its natural flow. Not only is this against nature but also against natural justice prevailing from times immemorial. As the Mhadei flows smoothly, uninterrupted so does life forms prosper within its flow and on its shores.
No human interference is justified and every time man has interfered with the flow of life sustaining water sources, the results have been cataclysmic.
The man made unnatural diversion of the Mhadei waters through the Kalasa Banduri Canal by Karnataka to feed the Malaprabha Basin is highly detrimental to the entire natural environment along its flow and an invitation for an environmental disaster of immense proportions.
The pure and continuous flow of the Mhadei ensures the salinity balance in the Mandovi and it’s tributaries where myriad forms of aquatic flora and fauna prospers. The waters flourish with indigenous species of fish, crabs and other life forms that survive on a delicate balance. It nourishes the mangroves and provides nesting grounds for a wide avian variety including migratory species. The local populace gets its livelihood from the bountiful waters of the Mandovi and it’s tributaries. Greenery abounds the shores of these waters and sustain a perfect natural environment that gives an equable climatic condition to our little state and it’s capital city.
All of this will change to worse as the salinity levels are affected by the short flow from the Mhadei. When the Mandovi and it’s tributaries fail to get the natural share of fresh water flow, the entire ecosystem will be disturbed beyond revival. Along with the reduced water volumes and eventual drying up of the shorelines, all the aquatic life as well as that supported on the shores will die out.
If Karnataka has its ways, the proudly flowing Mandovi as we know it today will end up as a dark, murky & lifeless dribble of water.
Karnataka is playing foul with the canal depths that’s causing a devious diversion of the entire flow into Malaprabha Basin while almost avoiding its natural flow towards Goa even when the monsoon is in full swing. That being the case, its plainly imaginable what a disastrous situation it will be into the dry months, especially the summers.
Leaving aside the statistical jargon regarding the ratio of water sharing, the highs & lows of salinity etc, the most important factor that needs to be appreciated is that the Mhadei/Mandovi is an emotion of an entire population. It’s not a river but the Water of Life to the socio-cultural identity called Goemkarponn!
Our CM is playing the BJP’s Central tune and turning a blind eye to the facts already exposed by the media.
History is witness to entire civilisations being wiped out when rivers changed course and here we have Goa’s lifeline being altered to suit political equations between Karnataka and the Centre.
Every self-respecting Goan should stand up for the survival of the Mandovi which’s just another way of saying that this fight is for the survival of Sundor Sobit Goem as we know it.
