Team Herald
MARGAO: Water Resources Minister Felipe Neri Rodrigues on Friday said that the all-party delegation from Goa, that will meet Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change demanding the withdrawal of environmental approval given to Karnataka in the Mhadei river diversion work, will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi if it is not satisfied with the meeting with the MoEF.
He said that Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant and he have discussed the issue, and he has been taken into confidence on how to approach the Environment Minister, and if not satisfied meet the Prime Minister as well.
Besides withdrawal of the consent given to Karnataka, Goa will demand a joint inspection of the diversion site along with Maharastra as the government is apprehensive of methods used by Karnataka.
Rodrigues said, “We will discuss the Mhadei issue and demand withdrawal of the clearance clarification or consent to the proposal of Karnataka.” He added that if their demand is not fulfilled they will take up the matter with the Prime Minister asking him to intervene and withdraw the same.
“Our second demand will be asking for a joint inspection of the site as they don’t allow us to see what work is going on there since the matter is in court. We were never allowed to visit that site officially to get to know the illegalities and their plan of diversion. This will also be our major demand,” Rodrigues said.
On the tribunal award he said, “There is a long procedure to be undertaken before the award of the tribunal is fulfilled. It is going to be very difficult for Karnataka to fulfill all the conditions of the award, hence they may take a different course of action. We are confident that Karnataka will not be able to divert the water that easily, because the matter has to be legally fought, for which all three states have first of all disagreed with the award.”
Commenting on the protests held on Friday, the WRD Minister said, “We don’t have a problem with the opposition and activists holding a protest. But, the inconvenience that is caused to the people of Goa, especially in North Goa on the National Highway, is what I feel bad about, and I apologise to the people for the inconvenience caused.”
He said that since an appointment has already been made for Monday with the Environment Minister the timing of agitation was wrong, and added that the government is very sensitive and serious about this issue.
Speaking further he said, “The Environment Minister has given this concurrence without consulting the other authorities – Central Water Commission, Ministry of Water Resources, Government of Goa. Therefore, we are approaching the Environment Minister to clarify under what circumstances he has given and let him answer that,” Rodrigues said.
He said that the matter is subjudice before the Tribunal and the Supreme Court and that all three States have disagreed with the award given. “I don’t think that the Minister giving concurrence has any relevance or any impact legally. It is a long battle with lawyers. Government of Goa has spending crores of rupees for this battle,” Rodrigues said.
“We have confidence that there will be a resolution to this issue as the Center is ruled by BJP and the State it is also ruled by BJP. There shouldn’t be or contradictory stand within the same governments,” he added.
