Team Herald
PANJIM: The third meeting of the Mhadei-PRAWAH (Progressive River Authority for Welfare and Harmony), which was scheduled to be held on Friday, September 6, 2024, has been postponed and is likely to be held after the Ganesh festival.
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According to sources, the meeting has been postponed after a request from Maharashtra government to hold the meeting after the Chaturthi festival.
The meeting was scheduled to be held in New Delhi under the chairmanship of Central Water Commission (CWC) in-charge Navin Kumar. PRAWAH’s earlier two meetings were held in Goa and Bengaluru respectively.
The PRAWAH committee had carried out an inspection of the Mhadei basin in July. The inspection was carried out after the PRAWAH asking the three riparian States- Maharashtra, Goa and Karnataka – to share with it, visit plans for familiarisation with the Mhadei river basin.
Meanwhile, the Opposition accused the Goa government of doing nothing to save Mhadei and diversion of its water by Karnataka.
Speaking to reporters, Leader of Opposition Yuri Alemao said, “This government has sold Mhadei. We had asked for an all party delegation meeting with the prime minister but this double engine government has failed Goans. The Chief Minister of Karnataka got an appointment with the prime minister but this chief minister (Pramod Sawant) does not have time.”
“Rs 13 crore has been spent as legal fees on Mhadei while Rs 75 lakh has been spent on visits of ministers and officials to Delhi. It is a sorry state of affairs. We had demanded that the matter should be discussed in the house committee. But the House Committee has met only once,” Alemao said.
Goa Forward Party (GFP) President and Fatorda MLA Vijai Sardesai said, “Mhadei has been sold and PRAWAH is just to hoodwink the Goans. Whenever Mhadei issue crops up, BJP comes out with a stop gap excuse. We demand that after Anant Chaturdashi, the House Committee should be convened and the issue discussed in detail.”
“Central government does not care about Goa as it has only two MPs which is much below the number of MPs from Karnataka. This BJP government has been making false statements. First it said that Mhadei is more than mother, then it said that the PRAWAH committee has been constituted and the Mhadei issue will be resolved,” he said.
