PORVORIM: The Goa Legislative Assembly witnessed a heated debate on Friday, with Opposition members accusing the State government of selling out Goan rivers by agreeing to their nationalisation, without adequately considering the interests of local fishermen.
“When Kerala had denotified 10 rivers from being nationalised, why did the Goa government not raise a single protest to protect fishermen’s interests and instead agree to the nationalisation of six Goan rivers?” asked the members.
The Opposition argued that while previous Goa governments, both under Congress’ Digambar Kamat and BJP’s Manohar Parrikar, had opposed nationalisation, it was in 2014, under Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar, that the State agreed to the nationalisation of its rivers.
Environment Minister Aleixo Sequeira stated that nationalisation was inevitable under the Inland Waterways Act, and that under Article 246 of the Constitution of India, Parliament has exclusive legislative power to make laws with respect to any of the matters enumerated in List 1 of the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution. Under this Article, the National Waterways Act, 2016 declared six rivers of Goa as national waterways.
Sequeira also argued that though an MoU was signed between the Union government, the Captain of Ports, and the Mormugao Port Trust (MPT), it had protected the Goa government’s interests. He pointed out that the rights over the rivers remained vested in the Captain of Ports and that the State government can propose developmental projects, which will be financed by the Centre. Goa was the only State that had negotiated with the Centre over the issue and signed an MoU aimed at protecting the interests of the State, he said.
Velim MLA Cruz Silva, who had tabled a joint starred question, said that the State government agreed to the Centre’s proposal without conducting any study to assess or analyse the impact of the nationalisation of rivers.
However, the Minister’s reply did not satisfy the Opposition members, who rushed the well of the House, alleging that the Goa government had sold the State’s rivers to the Centre. Fatorda MLA Vijai Sardesai did not join the Opposition.
Earlier, before question hour, the House witnessed a noisy scene after Leader of the Opposition Yuri Alemao pointed out that sub-questions of his starred questions were deleted. He alleged that this was done because the government wanted to avoid answering opposition questions. Speaker Ramesh Tawadkar assured him that he would look into his grievance.
