VALPOI: Speaker Pramod Sawant on Sunday along with Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) visited the Kankumbi village, the site where Karnataka has proposed a dam over a tributary of the Mhadei River.
Deputy Speaker Michael Lobo MLAs – Alina Saldanha and Prasad Gaonkar along with Mhadei Bachao Abhiyan (MBA) members – Rajendra Kerkar and Nirmala Sawant, Narahari Haldankar, Vishwas Satarkar and Shambubhau Bandekar were present.
“To know exactly where the flow of Mhadei River water has been stopped by Karnataka Government, we have called the MLAs and environmentalists. We have seen that the flow of Kalasa River has been stopped by the Karnataka Government and to regulate the water flow they have used a water regulator and have constructed a five-km long underground canal. The flow of Kalasa River water to Goa has been totally stopped. Now, the natural flow of Mhadei River water is towards the Malaprabha River. In this present situation, the Ganje and Opa water plants will be severely hit. This is a warning bell for us and now we will submit the report to the Chief Minister and the AG,” said Pramod Sawant.
Accusing the Karnataka Government of violating the law, Michael Lobo said, “If tribunal judge visits the site, and witnesses all these works, he will be shocked. They have diverted the Kalasa River water towards Malaprabha River, Karnataka. Now, Goa will not get water. Now, the tribunal has to form a committee to check the Kalasa-Banduri work and the panel should include the environmentalists and retired WRD engineers to check whether the basin water will reach Goa or not. Practically, the main aim of Karnataka government is to totally divert the water from the Kalasa basin and now we have to stop this work.”
“We are going slowly on the Mhadei issue. We have to come on the roads in protest. Now, we all have to approach our MLAs on the issue and have to move a calling attention motion in the Assembly to solve the issue,” said Rajendra Kerkar of Mhadei Bachao Abhiyan.
Former sarpanch of Kankumbi, Arun Naik said, “The villagers have always opposed the Kalasa Banduri project as it will not benefit us.”
“The Kalasa canal has destroyed our agriculture fields. We have already opposed the project but the Karnataka Government has pressurised us. This canal has destroyed our source of water. The government has given us only Rs 5,000, complained Mahadev Gaonkar, a local from Kankumbi.
