The voice of
Mhadei reverberated in the capital city as the youth across Goa vowed to fight for the river
united. The 21st Goa Yuva Mahotsav organised by Konkani Bhasha Mandal in
collaboration with City Corporation of Panjim and Goa University very aptly
chose Mhadei as their theme as youngsters from 51 educational institutions and
cultural groups echoed the voice of Mhadei, reaching out to thousands of
viewers and onlookers. The procession, which is in fact one of the competitions
of the festival, started from the Kala Academy main gate and culminated at
Bandodkar ground, leaving spectators spellbound as youngsters shouted slogans
and held placards reflecting their concern for Mhadei river.
“The procession is in fact a culmination of the Mhadei jyot that
travelled more than 25 educational institutions,” informed Chetan Acharya,
President of Konkani Bhasha Mandal. “Many people in Goa are not bothered about
the issue of Mhadei and hence we wanted to create awareness about the same,” he
said.
Anwesha Singbal, the working President of the festival, was
vociferous in her speech during the inaugural program where she promised the
Goa government on behalf of the youth present, to be there in the fight for
Mhadei. “No one can snatch away a mother from their child and Mhadei is our
mother,” she said while addressing Sidharth Kunkolienkar, the President of the
welcome committee of the festival, who in turn acknowledged with applause.
The second day of the
festival saw a special interview of environmentalist Rajendra Kerkar and writer
Dr Prakash Parienkar, both of whom spoke extensively on the topic of Mhadei.
Gopinath Gawas and Naman Sawant Dhawaskar interviewed them. The interview saw
several unanswered questions seeing the light of the day as youth assimilated
the several facets of the Mhadei controversy. “Our education does not speak
about the several water resources of Goa and hence youth in particular are
unaware of the Mhadei issue,” said Kerkar while appealing to the politicians to
unite on the issue of Mhadei and save this lifeline of Goa.
The festival this
year saw several groups presenting their various concerns on and off stage. The
shooting competition saw youth putting forward several short films and
documentaries on the topic Save Forests.
The 21st Goa Yuva
Mahotsav saw the Government College of Quepem emerging winners second time in a
row. Interestingly, the runners up title was lifted by Antruz Ghudyo, Bandora
who were also the runners up last year. The best disciplined group was won by
Rising Youth, Mayem. The festival saw thirteen different competitions in
various genres like folk, dance, singing, painting, theatre, etc.
