BELAGAVI: Apart from the Goa government, several political parties and organisations continue to exert pressure on the Centre in an attempt to halt the diversion of the Mahadayi river water to Karnataka, in wake of the approval given to the Kalasa-Banduri DPR by the Centre.
In a fresh attempt, a Save Mahadayi, Save Goa Front delegation met Goa Governor P S Sreedharan Pillai in Goa on Wednesday, seeking his urgent intervention in the Mahadayi imbroglio.
A delegation of Save Mahadayi Save Goa Front appealed to the Goa Governor to help bring a solution to the issue of sharing Mahadayi waters with Karnataka and requested him to find a lasting solution to the issue in favour of Goa state.
“We had passed some resolutions in our last public meeting on January 16. We have submitted the copy of resolutions to the Governor and have urged him to convey the same to the President. The Front members also had a detailed chat on the issue of Mahadayi on what the state government can do or the Centre can intervene in the matter,” said Prashant Naik of the Front.
After meeting the Governor, the delegation also submitted a memorandum and a copy of the unanimous resolution passed on Opinion Poll Day with thousands of signatures asking for immediate withdrawal of DPR approved to divert Mahadayi.
According to sources, the Governor took note of the Front’s views on the issue and said he would take up the matter with the authorities concerned and convey the sentiments of Goans to them. Another member of the Front, Prajal Sakhardande said that in all villages across Goa, meetings will be conducted to involve people in the ongoing Mahadayi movement.
A related case filed by the Mahadayi Bachao Abhiyan before the Supreme Court is on a strong footing, and now there is a need to strengthen the people’s movement in the state so as to ensure that the water from Mahadayi continues to flow into Goa, said Sakhardande. Advocate Hrudaynath Shirodkar said that there are several things that could be improved in the approvals granted by the Central government to Karnataka’s DPR. He also said that the Karnataka government has wrongly claimed that the project is a drinking water project while it is, in fact, an irrigation project.