The lifeline of Goa – Mhadei, is on the verge of being cut off after the Centre’s controversial letter of Environmental Approval (to Karnataka).
After that letter, there has been a lot of ruckus in Goa with all political parties trying to show one-upmanship by demonstrations and agitations.
However, none of these parties or political leaders were concerned about Goa just few years ago, forget decades.
Mhadei Bachao Abhiyan (MBA) has been fighting the matter for 23 years in a purely apolitical manner and I am proud to actually say that. Our fight is different from what others are showcasing today. Fighting for one two, years and fighting for over two decades, is a different issue altogether.
It all started on the June 10, 1996 when VY Chavan, who was president of Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti and a former MLA, wrote to me, as I was the Congress President then. Chavan had also written to the then Chief Minister, stating that that there is a water diversion project coming up at Kankumbi, which will affect both Maharashtra and Goa.
The then chief minister did not give much importance to the letter but I realised the seriousness and the impact, the project could have on the environment and Goa.
Before that, I had already read in the papers that Karnataka wanted to block the Dudhsagar waterfall too.
I was firm about one thing – that the river connection can be accepted but not its diversion. This was in the area of the Western Ghat and the project would have a catastrophic effect on wildlife and the environment.
I realised that 50 per cent of Goa depends on Mhadei. On the other hand, Karnataka has 20 rivers and 100 tributaries, so they don’t need any water from Mhadei. Even if they needed water they have Benehalla River, near Dharwad, which is three times wider than Mhadei. They could easily take water from there.
After the study, I, along with few like-minded people started doing some research and creating awareness on the issue.
Since the issue affected Sattari more, we started holding meetings there, as they were stakeholders. Rajendra Kerkar was also working on the issue and he also joined the moment. But, despite our efforts, very few people understood the issue then.
People of Sattari realised that this was a drinking water issue and hence they were worried but others were not worried, as they felt that Mhadei was part of Maharashtra and brushed aside the issue.
That time, Nandkumar Kamat, studied the issue and tried to find out the impact. Besides him, Rajendra was totally focussed on it as he knew minutely about the water-bodies and river flow.
My aspect was not just political but also the preservation of the environment.
We started the moment with Rajendra, Nandkumar and myself. Some journalists also took it seriously like Julio D’Silva of Herald, Rajendra Desai, Sandesh Prabhudesai, and Prakash Kamat to name a few. But entire media supported us then.
I took the journalists to Kankumbi and they saw it for themselves and they gave vast publicity to the issue in the language people could understand.
But even then, few people understood and the rest did not.
After that, we were a bit reluctant to take any strong steps as in the event we had made any mistake, the government would have blamed us, saying Goa lost water because of the Mhadei Bachao Abhiyan.
Till 2006, we kept on creating awareness on the issue to try and keep a check on Karnataka.
On October 2, 2006, despite Goa’s opposition, Karnataka laid the foundation stone for the project. This is when we decided enough was enough! We had then planned to move the court but we learned that within a few days, the Goa government had approached the court. Though it was the right decision, there was no meaning to the Goa government’s petition and that is when we decided to take the matter in our hands.
Then there was the issue of, who should be the MBA advocate in such a sensitive matter? The matter had to be handled very seriously as the lawyer has to understand the subject perfectly.
Then we zeroed in on Bhavani Shankar Gadnis, who was from Delhi and was also on Goa government panel of advocates.
After a year, our case was admitted in the Supreme Court on October 7, 2007. Every Goan, who understood the seriousness of the matter, congratulated me for just on the fact that the case had been admitted. Most people knew but did not want to come out in support as the case was against the government.
With mere admission of the case, people realised that there is truth in the matter. Thereafter, the case moved on.
One of our members and well-wishers, Shrihari Kunji, who was very young and excited, went to Central Empowered Committee (CEC) but unfortunately, his prayer was rejected as the Goa government matter was same.
When we went to the court, we were told the same thing, that the matter was similar to that of the Goa government’s.
But our advocate was very wise. He told the court, that MBA has many matters in this regard and put up another petition in 2009.
The Supreme Court told us to go to the CEC and let them examine the violations that have been done. The SC asked the CEC to submit a report on board.
Based on the SC directions, the inspection was held but I was not present due to my son’s wedding. Our advocate went along with Karnataka officials and luckily, for us, it was election time in Karnataka hence there were no politicians or crowd as they were busy with campaigning.
When the Secretary saw the place, he said it was “blatant violations” of the law. He wrote a report to the SC and the court realised that there are environmental violations.
After this in 2009, Veerappa Moily was the Law Minister and till 2014 the case did not come up at all in Supreme Court at all. It was in cold storage. Please note, I am not blaming Moily or the court, they may have been busy with other cases.
When the case came up in 2015-16, Karnataka told the court that the projects were less than Rs 100 crores. They showed the court, that the two projects Kalsa and Banduri, cost Rs 49 crore and Rs 42 crore, therefore no environment clearance was required.
Again we were in trouble. We could not go to the court on diversion of water as it was a State subject. We had to challenge it only on the environment perspective.
For this, our base was 197 Wildlife Act and 1980 Forest Protection Act.
We had a challenge to prove that the project is more than Rs 100 crore and I am happy we did that, we proved to the court the project was more than Rs 100 cr.
The Karnataka advocate told the Supreme Court that Nirmala Sawant and the Mhadei Bachao Abhiyan is a ploy of the Goa government to stop the diversion. But the court, was convinced about MBA, and told them, it’s not true as the documents obtained by me were not used in the Mhadei Tribunal.
Shockingly, that was true; the Goa government never used the documents procured by me in the tribunal. They did not give MBA any importance as I, Nirmala Sawant, was from a different party.
In 2017, the court asked the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) to file an affidavit on the matter. The ministry, in its affidavit, said that neither Karnataka has asked for any clearance, nor have they given them any clearance. Hence, the MoEF said, Karnataka cannot go ahead with the project.
This was a big win for us, as after this, the Court asked the Solicitor General to give an affidavit and asked the Karnataka advocate Fali Nariman for their reply.
Surprisingly, Karnataka said, “neither we have done the work nor we are going to do the work on the project.”
On this assurance, the court ruled that the case is closed.
This was a huge win for entire Goa. We thought Mhadei was saved.
But call it shocking or surprising, despite this order, the Goa government did not submit the SC order with the Mhadei Tribunal. I still wonder why?
In August 2018, the Tribunal gave its verdict one year after SC had ruled in our favour.
The Tribunal verdict was not in our favour and it was sort of a compromise.
Former Goa Chief Minister (Late) Manohar Parrikar’s letter to Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa was political and may have spoilt Goa’s case at the Tribunal.
The government should have told the Tribunal that the letter has no meaning as it was political.
Today as I see us losing a battle, which we had won two years ago and thus, I do not trust anybody. Why should I join the agitation with Congress or Goa Forward or with BJP?
Today, I have to have faith only with Environment Minister Prakash Javdekar. We have to trust Javdekar. As he said, it happens sometimes as the lower level officers do make mistakes. Let us trust him for 10 days, thereafter we can decide what to do.
I have given some incriminating documents to the new Advocate General (AG) Adv Devidas Pangam, which was never asked for by former AG, Adv Atmaram Nadkarni.
We are hopeful something will happen but Karnataka will move the court again and so, I will have to again start the fight.
(Opinion as narrated to SURAJ NANDREKAR)
