Team Herald
PANJIM: Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant will lead an all-party delegation to Delhi on November 4, to meet Union Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) Minister Prakash Javadekar, seeking the immediate withdrawal of the consent granted to Karnataka for the Kalsa-Banduri project in the Mhadei basin.
The delegation will comprise Union AYUSH Minister and North Goa MP Shripad Naik, Rajya Sabha MP Vinay Tendulkar, Water Resources Minister Felipe Neri Rodrigues, along with representatives of the Congress, MGP, Goa Forward Party (GFP) and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
Advocate General Devidas Pangam, Chief Engineer Sandeep Nadkarni and members of the Mhadei Bachao Abhiyan (MBA)
Nirmala Sawant and Rajendra Kerkar will also be part of the delegation.
Confirming the development, the Chief Minister told Herald that the delegation will meet Javadekar and demand the immediate withdrawal of the consent granted to the Kalsa-Banduri project, which is allegedly meant for drinking water.
“We have invited all the parties, that is Congress, MGP, GFP and NCP. It is up to them who they want to send to represent them,” he said.
Sawant said that as mentioned in the letter, the delegation will propose a site inspection along with representatives of the basin States to get first hand information of Karnataka’s actions.
The delegation will also demand that no request from Karnataka should be entertained till the matter is decided by the Supreme Court.
Sawant said that the request would first go to Javadekar, whose Ministry has granted the consent. “Depending on his reply, we will take future steps,” he said, when asked whether the delegation would also meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
