PONDA: To educate the public about the consequences of diverting water from Mhadei River, Amee Goenkar has planned to hold public and corner meetings throughout the State.
A first such meeting will be held at Zareshwar Hall in Ponda, on January 11 at 6 pm. The awareness campaign would calumniate in a huge public meeting at Panjim.
Addressing the media in Ponda, Swati Kerkar, a member of Amee Goenkar, said that the Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar’s promise to Karnataka BJP leader B S Yeddyurappa to provide drinking water to Hubli and Dhardward has caused confusion and worry among the Goans.
She claimed that after Parrikar’s promise, the Goans are worried about the fate of the dispute pending before the Mhadei Tribunal.
“When it was time to reap the fruits after spending crores of rupees in fighting a legal battle before the Tribunal, the chief minister has taken a different stand shattering the hopes of the people,” Kerkar said.
She warned that in case of water diversion from Mhadei River, people residing in Panjim and Ponda would be most affected; besides, wells, lakes, springs and other ground water sources along the river route would run dry.
Kerkar also appealed to all the political parties in Goa to take a common stand to oppose and foil the attempts by Karnataka to deprive Goa of its rights over Mhadei River.
She predicted that though the ruling Congress and the Opposition BJP in Karnataka are currently blaming each other, when the judgement day comes, they would both come together and present the letter of Parrikar before the Tribunal.
Therefore, she demanded that the chief minister immediately withdraw his letter sent to Yeddyurappa and stop playing politics for the electoral gains of BJP in the upcoming Assembly elections in Karnataka.
