Ever since Goa was annexed to Indian Union, it has been subjected to various kinds of assaults and attacks by its own sons and daughters as also by its foster parents, the Central Government of the country. It goes without saying that we are paying the price of the abetment and silence of the older and partly our own generation, most of which is no more. However, a few of those who are still living and were part or sympathizers of the movement to see Goa free from foreign domination, lament that this is not the Goa of their dreams or they fought for. Hence, to avoid future generations from nursing similar feelings towards us, it is imperative that we salvage and fight for whatever is left of Goa.
After pawning our roads and railway tracks to transport coal, killing us softly but surely, some mercenaries have now turned their prying eyes to our rivers, which have been nationalized mainly for coal transportation. The rivers involved are: National Waterway 25: Chapora River, from Maneri to Arabian Sea near Morjim -33kms; NW 27: Cumbarjua River, from Cortalim Ferry terminal to Cumbarjua-Mandovi river confluence near Sao Mathias – 17 kms; NW 68: Mandovi River, from Bridge at Usgao to Mandovi confluence with Arabian Sea at Reis Mangos – 41 kms; NW 71: Mapusa/Moide River, from the Bridge on NH – 17 at Mapusa to confluence point of Mapusa and Mandovi rivers at Porvorim – 27 kms; NW 88: Sal River, from Orlim Deussua Bridge to confluence with Arabian Sea at Mobor – 14 kms;. NW 111: Zuari river, from Sanvordem Bridge to Mormugao Port – 50 kms.
The development of these rivers, covering a stretch of 182 kms, will mainly involve capital and maintenance dredging to allow access and navigation of bigger barges and ships used primarily for coal transportation. This will not only destroy our rivers and sea beds but also eco-sensitive riverine zones, seriously affecting marine ecology, fisheries, fish and other sea food availability. Further leakage of coal from barges and coal loading and unloading at the port will pollute our waters and be a serious health hazard.
Rivers in Goa have been created with indigenously designed bunds and water flow control systems by our local communities. Thousands of families depend on farming and fishing which could be seriously impacted by nationalization. Expressing concern in Rajya Sabha, last year, over River Nationalization, Shantaram Naik had said that the MOU, now signed by the Goa government with the Inland Waterways Authority “will lead to the authority taking possession of substantial land on both sides of the rivers to build infrastructure of various types involving private parties under Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode and that will ruin the distinguished character of Goa”.
Though in paper the ownership of the rivers will be retained by the respective States, the National Waterways Act and the previous Inland Waterways Act 1985 give wide and sweeping powers to the respective Authority under the Act, eventually taking away all the rights of the States over these rivers. Among the authoritarian powers it has are to “carry out surveys and investigations for the development, maintenance and better utilization of the national waterways and the appurtenant land for shipping and navigation”. “Appurtenant land means all lands appurtenant to a national waterway, whether demarcated or not”. “Any land required for discharging its functions shall be deemed to be needed for a public purpose and such land may be acquired…” “No suit or other proceedings shall lie against the Authority for any damage caused or likely to be caused by anything in good faith done or purported to be done under this Act or the rules or regulations, and in particular, it shall not be the responsibility of the Authority to provide for relief measures necessitated by floods or by breaches and failures of works.” It further allows “setting up of infrastructural facilities for national waterways, which includes docks, wharves, jetties, handing stages, locks, buoys, inland ports, cargo handling equipment, road and rail access and cargo storage spaces.
In Goa all the Khazans become” appurtenant land”, as per the Act and they will become part of the National water ways, whereby fishermen could lose their livelihood. Concretization of bunds, creation of jetties and storage yards will also happen in khazan lands
The CM, while defending the nationalization, said that “as per Inland waterways Act, IWAI is the authority to deal with dredging and opening up of navigational channels of all the rivers identified as national waterways, but after much demand, the Central Govt. granted relaxation to Goa, directing that we should sign an MOU as per which all these rights will be vested to state. IWAI will provide necessary funding. With this, it is very clear that the state neither loses its right over the rivers nor there will be any restrictions on the rights of fishing community,” he added.
The Government has its compulsions of obliging its masters in Delhi and their industrialist friends, overlooking serious and palpable concerns of the people. Goans are being offered lollipops of crores for building infrastructure like roads, better navigational facilities, etc. which are mainly meant for coal transportation. People in Goa are getting smarter and will not go for such dangling carrots, as their experiences in the past have been far from encouraging. Coal and river nationalization are now being opposed by almost every Gram sabha. The Government has forfeited the trust of the people for far too long and people have turned skeptic even about projects that could be partly beneficial to them. Such is the trust deficit, which is widening by the day.
(The author is a retired banker)
