PANJIM: Just ahead of the crucial winter session of the State Legislative Assembly, the BJP government will, on Monday, make public the memorandum of understanding (MoU) to be signed with the Centre on nationalisation of rivers. 

The tripartite agreement would be signed between the Inland Waterways Authority (IWAI)   a parent agency of Union Ministry for Shipping, Goa Government and Mormugao Port Trust on nationalisation of six rivers in Goa. 

Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar will make presentation on the MoU before MLAs, both ruling and opposition, the non-government organisations (NGOs) and social activists, who had raised their apprehensions about the project on Monday at Institute Menezes Braganza (IMB). 

“All who had written to us raising their concern, apprehensions and even opposition are being 

invited for the presentation on MoU. As I had said MoU will be signed only after taking everyone into confidence,” Parrikar told Herald. 

Of the total 111 rivers proposed for nationalisation across country, six are from Goa   Chapora, Cumbarjua, Mandovi, Mapusa, Sal and Zuari.

Government, on several occasions, has assured the people of the State that even after nationalisation of waterways; the operational powers will be vested with the State government. 

Union Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari, during his recent Goa visit, too had said that Centre would provide funds for the project while the ownership of the rivers would remain with the state government which will also have to maintain them.

State government is facing strong opposition to the nationalisation project, with NGOs and villagers claiming that traditional fishermen and those dependent on rivers would lose authority over the water bodies. Group of citizens under the banner ‘Our Rivers Our Rights’ have spearheaded the movement against nationalisation of rivers, who alleged that the entire plan is to facilitate transportation of coal. 

The group has even petitioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking his intervention to remove all the six Goan rivers from the National Waterways Act, 2016, thereby dropping the plan of river nationalisation.