Team Herald
PONDA: A special two-day Assembly session should be convened to educate Goa’s legislators on the Mhadei issue, said environmentalist and river conservation activist Rajendra Kerkar, who rued that Goan politicians express their opinions on the inter-state dispute over the river without fully understanding the subject.
Kerkar was addressing a public meeting held at Marcel, where he asserted that the only way to save the river was not by staging protests or going on hunger strikes, but by strengthening Goa’s case in the Supreme Court, with scientific studies on the environment and ecology of the river, and the laws related to it.
Pointing out that 43 per cent of Goa’s population depends on the Mhadei for their water needs, Kerkar said that the court has granted 3.09 tmcft of the Mhadei’s waters to Karnataka, 1.33 tmcft to Maharashtra, leaving Goa with 24 tmcft of water. “In reality, Karnataka has already tdiverted the river’s waters,” he added.Kerkar revealed that Goa’s failure to take proactive steps to protect and preserve its tiger population may have also resulted in its loss in the battle for the Mhadei. “Six tigers exist in the Mhadei sanctuary, one of them was recently spotted in the Dudhsagar area. Because these tigers exist, the government needs to implement rules safeguarding the sanctuaries. Karnataka has not promoted projects in the Dudhsagar area because of its recognition of the existence of tigers,” he explained. “If we took better care of our tigers, then the projects mooted by Karnataka that affect the Mhadei and Netravali sanctuaries will definitely suffer,” he claimed. The activist, who has been a vocal member of the Mhadei Bachao Andolan since 2007, said that Goa made a mistake by approaching the Tribunal for the sharing of the Mhadei waters, without properly studying the river and its tributaries.
“In the past, Karnataka had made a claim to the Centre, that an abundance of the Mhadei’s waters flowed into the Arabian Sea. Based on their claim, the Central Water Commision conducted a study wherein it was wrongly informed that the Mhadei basin contains 188 tmcft of water. Because of this wrong information, we are today facing the diversion of the lifeline of Goa,” he asserted.
Kerkar lamented that he had shouted himself hoarse trying to prevent Goa from taking the water-sharing issue to the Tribunal , and had also urged scientists and resource people to conduct and submit research on the impact of the diversion of the Mhadei, but it all fell on deaf ears. “There was a need to read the 1956 Tribunal law before approaching the issue, but nobody listened to me and we are today stuck with the Tribunal’s verdict. Even in 1999, with the formation of the Mhadei and Netravali wildlife sanctuaries, it was possible to use these protected tracts as a shield against the diversion, but that was not to be,” Kerkar added.
The meeting, under the banner of ‘Amchi Mhadei Amka Zai’, was also attended by Leader of Opposition Yuri Alemao, Congress MLA Carlos Alvares Ferreira, journalist Raju Naik and artist Kanta Gaude among others.
