PANJIM, JAN 17
Maharashtra has asked Goa government to fulfill its 20-year-old long promise to provide employment to around 630 people from Maharashtra affected with the inter-state Tillari Irrigation Project.
“As per the agreement, it is now the duty of Goa government to provide employment to these 630 people in a time bound manner,” Maharashtra’s Water Resources Minister Sunil Tatkare told reporters today evening.
Tatkare, who is down in Goa to discuss over the issue held a high level meeting with Goa Water Resource Minister Filipe Neri Rodrigues, to work out a time frame programme to provide employment to all these affected people from Sindhudurg district of Maharashtra.
The meeting was also attended by Chief Secretary Sanjay Srivastava.
“If Goa cannot provide the employment, they can work on one time settlement for the people affected with the project,” Tatkare said adding that Maharashtra government has already provided employment to 204 people.
Around 20 years back when the project was conceived in 1990, 11 villages with 1,236 families and 5,476 people were affected.
Tatkare said that 869 families were certified to be Project Affected People (PAP) and as per the agreement Goa need to provide employment to the rest.
The minister clarified that according to the agreement signed between both the States had discussed that Goa will have 73 percent water from the dam project which is at the brink of completion.
“Goa was supposed to have 73 percent cost sharing and liability like providing employment to the PAP as per 1976 Rehabilitation Act of Maharashtra,” Tatkare recalled.
He said that few PAP families had threatened to commit suicides if government employment, as promised to them during their evacuation, is not provided to them on immediate basis.
Talking about the rehabilitation process adopted by Maharashtra, the minister said that one person per family is provided with the employment and in those cases where giving government jobs was not possible, the government has worked out a one time settlement compensation package for them.
“The similar proposal has also been put forward before the Goa government. Rodrigues has assured to discuss the issue with the Chief Minister Digambar Kamat before taking the decision,” Tatkare said, adding that if required the department will also urge Maharashtra chief minister to follow up the issue with Goa Government.
The project with 16 TMC dam is estimated to be of Rs 1612 crore of which Rs 857crore has to be borne by Goa government. Rs 658 crore is the total cost in the form of common expenditure that both the States will bore. The share of Goa comprises of Rs 482 crore of which the State has already paid Rs 447 crore to Maharashtra.
“The payment of pending amount has also been discussed in the meeting,” the minister said.
During the meeting today, Maharashtra also asked Goa to have a storage capacity built up alongside the irrigation project.
Tatkare said that such a facility is required in case of natural calamities or maintenance of canal during which the water supply can be given from this storage reservoir.
