AGENCIES|PANAJI

 

Goa Suraksha Manch (GSM) on Wednesday said that verdict given by Mahadayi Tribunal was unfortunate and alleged that Goa Government had failed to save the river.

In a statement, Goa Suraksha Manch president Atmaram Gaonkar said Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar had said that he would not allow to divert a single drop of Mahadayi to Karnataka.

”The same Parrikar has now put the people of Goa in deep and long term trouble for water. Goa lost Mahadayi and political settlers for power have won the battle.

Goa Government initially had strongly put up the case in tribunal and have spent around Rs 30 crore on the legal fight but on the last stage, CM Parrikar has made our case very weak by writing a public letter to BJP Chief of Karnataka Yedyurappa during the elections of Karnataka,” he alleged.

”Similar thing was done by him in regards to the issue of MOI (Medium of Instruction) by taking ‘U turn’ on the last moment. Moreover, when Mr Parrikar was Defence Minister, he spoke about solving the Mahadayi issue outside the court when he was addressing a gathering in Gadag. Because of such attitude and ‘political gambling’, the case became weak and Tribunal got wrong message that there will be not much effect on Goa if Mahadayi water is diverted,” he alleged.

”Goa’s demand for water was 122 TMC feet but allotted was only 24 TMC feet which is only 20 per cent of demand. Tribunal allowed 5.5 TMC feet to divert into Malaprabha and 8.2 TMC feet for hydroelectric project. The bad effects of this will be faced by Goans in times to come. The breeding of fish in Mandavi will be reduced, rise in sea water level, reduction of sweet water, reduction in forest, reduction in the ground water table, more severe problems of drinking water, bad effects on agriculture and overall bad effects on economy of Goa are the effects of diversion of water,” he claimed.

He said government has to devise some mechanism to see that Karnataka did not divert more than allotted, he said.