BELAGAVI: Former Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar initiated the state’s legal battle to stake the rightful claim over the Mahadayi river and did not compromise Goa’s interests as depicted by the authors of a biography on Parrikar, stated Goa Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant on his Twitter and Facebook accounts.
“Bhai (Parrikar) and his legacy deserve a better tribute! I express my displeasure at such insensitive literature painting a wrong image of Goa’s stalwart,’’ Dr Sawant said, indicating that his government is against the diversion of Mahadayi waters (Mandovi in Goa) even as Karnataka is fighting an all-out legal battle in the Supreme Court for its share for the last few decades.
“An Extraordinary Life: A Biography of Manohar Parrikar’’, authored by Sadguru Patil and Mayabhushan Nagvenkar, both from Goa, dwells on Parrikar’s ascent to power.
Reacting to Dr Sawant’s comments, Mayabhushan said, “We have said what we had to in our biography. Readers are entitled to their respective opinions.’’ He refused to comment on the CM’s stand and said it is up to Sawant to comment.
Referring to Mahadayi, the authors said on page 212 of the book, “Parrikar’s politically motivated letter to the hopeful Karnataka BJP CM BS Yediyurappa ahead of the 2018 assembly polls in the southern state, offering to consider the state’s demand for drinking water on ‘humanitarian grounds’ has put Goa on the backfoot vis-a-vis its two-decade-long inter-state dispute over the waters of the Mhadei river.’’
Parrikar’s softening stand on Mahadayi and his decision to share Mahadayi water with Karnataka had not gone down well in Goa as opposition leaders in the Goa assembly, including former CM Digambar Kamat, had severely criticised Parrikar’s stand.
Many leaders across Goa had questioned Parrikar on why he changed his stand on Mahadayi when Karnataka was going to the polls in 2018.
Activist Ashok Chandargi said Parrikar would think about such major inter-state issues practically.
“He was aware of the long-stretched issue of Mahadayi which was getting more entangled. He had offered to share Mahadayi water with Karnataka with the only objective to take the issue to a logical end. He changed his stand only when he realised the importance of this project when he became a minister in the Union cabinet,” he said.
CM approves revised project reports on Kalasa-Banduri
Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Tuesday granted administrative approval for the revised project reports of Kalasa and Banduri canals. The approval was given barely a few weeks after the Centre sought the approval of the state government to add pace to the disputed inter-state water-sharing project.
The Union Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change had recently prevailed on the state government to submit fresh proposals for diversion of forest lands to take up Kalasa-Bandura project besides the revised project report.