Team Herald
PANJIM: While MPs and MLAs from Karnataka have publicly shown their concern towards and awareness of the Mhadei river water diversion in Malaprabha basin, raising their voice on every platform, including Parliament, in Goa the scene appears quite the contrary.
Though, the State legal team and environmentalists are leaving no stone unturned to win the inter-state water diversion case, elected representatives have shown no seriousness towards this contentious issue.
This was evident during the special awareness programme organised on ‘Mhadei- the Lifeline’ for Ministers, MLAs, ex-Ministers, ex-MLAs by the Goa Legislature Secretariat. As many as 34 MLAs, were not present at the session, which was held to educate them about River Mhadei and Goa’s fight before the Mhadei Water Dispute Tribunal (MWDT).
Speaker Dr Pramod Sawant expressed unhappiness and displeasure over the lack of response from the MLAs to the awareness session. Keynote speaker, noted environmentalist and member of Mhadei Bachaco Abhiyan (MBA), Rajendra Kerkar too claimed that the kind of knowledge and seriousness the MLAs and MPs from Karnataka have on the issue, is lacking in Goa.
Besides Sawant, those who attended were Deputy Speaker Michael Lobo, Minister Rohan Khaunte and MLAs Prasad Gaonkar, Alina Saldanha and Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco. A few former MLAs, including MBA’s Nirmala Sawant, attended the session.
“We had sent the invite to all the MLAs including Ministers. But unfortunately, there was lack of response. The session was basically held to educate the MLAs, who otherwise express their views on the issue before the media. We wanted the MLAs to be fully aware about the seriousness of the Mhadei case,” the Speaker told media persons after the meeting.
“Chief Minister had
informed me that he would not be able to attend due to other prior meetings,” he said to a question from the media.
Interestingly, WRD Minister Vinod Palyekar, who is otherwise active on social media on the issue, also skipped the session.
Delivering the key note address, Kerkar took a jibe at the MLAs and said that the MLAs and MPs in Karnataka are more serious about the case than those of Goa. “Compared to Karnataka MLAs, the MLAs in Goa have lack of knowledge over the issue. They need to get themselves educated,” he said and added, “Our MLAs and MPs need to take up the matter before the respective platform exposing Karnataka and its unconstitutional move.”
Kerkar urged the MLAs to call on the Chief Minister and ensure that there is no compromise on the issue. “Ahead of elections in Karnataka, our MLAs need to be united and convince government not to have any compromise at this stage,” he stated.
