Running the risk of being charged with repetition, Herald has to restate in this column that the politics being played out on the Mhadei issue is not helping Goa. The entire State has to be on one page on this issue – that the environmental consent given by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change to Karnataka for the Kalasa-Bhandura project should be withdrawn forthwith. The accusations and the allegations that are being played out are merely diverting attention from the main issue. Let the approval that has been given to the project be withdrawn, and then can the politics be played out. There are no winners here, it is the interests of the State that matter.
The Leader of the Opposition does emphasise that his party – the Congress – is supporting the government’s efforts in protecting the Mhadei. One of the party’s demands was that the Chief Minister leads an all party delegation on the issue to New Delhi. The Chief Minister will be doing just that next week. The other demand was that the government calls for an Assembly session where an unanimous decision could be passed opposing the environmental consent given to Karnataka for the Kalsa-Banduri project. The opposition leader’s reasoning is that the people should not think there is no unanimity on the issue. That is true, and Herald does endorse that all parties and groups have to act as one on this issue. A special session could have helped in making this statement.
In that respect the morcha and the rasta roko by a few MLAs and activists at Porvorim on Friday jars a little. Here were demands being made, by former allies of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the Chief Minister’s resignation should he fail to get an appointment with the Prime Minister, and assertions that they will join the all party delegation only to see what the government is presenting to the Union Environment Minister. The aim of all political parties has to be to protect the waters of the Mhadei and not allow that they be diverted outside the basin. Karnataka has already been given a share by the Mhadei Water Disputes Tribunal, and anymore will result in a major loss to the State. Let there be no diversion from that issue.
However, Water Resources Minister Felipe Neri Rodrigues has assured that the delegation going to New Delhi will meet the Prime Minister if they are not satisfied with the meeting with the Environment Minister. That should come as an assurance to those demanding a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. But why should the Union Environment Minister not act of Goa’s demands? The State is not asking for much. The demands from Goa are pretty simple – withdrawal of the environmental consent given to the Kalsa-Banduri project and no consents given to an projects on the Mhadei unless Goa’s views are first sought.
There can be no two arguments on the fact that the Mhadei, which flows into Goa and is known as the Mandovi before it empties out into the Arabian Sea, is important to the State – it is the ecological lifeline of Goa. The State is water deficient, and this has to be conveyed to the Centre, so that it acts in Goa’s favour, not just in this instance, but in the future too. The Mhadei Water Dispute Tribunal has given its award, but in no way is the battle for the waters of the river over. This episode is proving it. Goa was caught napping, it can’t happen again, and in that the government has to assure the people that it will not allow the Centre to take any such decision again without first consulting Goa.
