goa English news | goa, Latest News & Live Updates in English | English News (Latest English News) at Lokmattimes.com

A combined opposition late on Tuesday slammed Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, as well as Union Minister for Environment and Forests Prakash Javadekar, after the latter on Tuesday wrote to Karnataka's Home Minister Basavraj Bommai saying the southern state "can start the work on Kalasa-Banduri canal project" after the Mhadei Interstate Water Dispute Tribunal's award is formally notified by the Central government.A Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) official had written to the Karnataka government on December 18 that a green clearance given by Javadekar had been kept in abeyance till further notice, after the Goa government had raised an objection to the Kalasa-Banduri water diversion project across the Mhadei river, which according to Sawant would cause "ecological devastation" in Goa.Goa Congress president Girish Chodankar called the latest letter by Javadekar to Bommai a "special gift" of betrayal to Goa on Christmas eve."The development clearly shows that BJP and NDA can not be trusted anymore in Goa and the Congress would see to it that this government standing on crutches of opportunist defectors is rejected by the people of Goa," Chodankar said, accusing Sawant of surrendering himself to the diktats of the BJP central leadership.Goa Forward Party President Vijai Sardesai also accused Sawant of lying to the people of Goa. "This is an unequivocal clearance to Karnataka for the Kalasa project. This is highly distressing," Sardesai said.Reacting to the accusations, Sawant has urged people to not panic. "The said letter does not damage the rightful claims of the state of Goa in any manner whatsoever on the issue of Mhadei river," Sawant tweeted.Goa and Karnataka are locked in a two decade-long inter-state dispute over the sharing of Mhadei river waters. The already vexed conflict between the two states became further exacerbated when two months before the crucial Karnataka Assembly bypolls, the MoEF gave a green nod to Karnataka's Rs 841 crore Kalasa-Banduri dam project.The Goa government is opposed to the project which aims to divert water from the Mhadei river basin to the deficit basin of the Malaprabha river, ostensibly for drinking water purpose.The Mhadei river originates in Karnataka and meets the Arabian Sea near Panaji in Goa, while briefly flowing through Maharashtra. An inter-state water disputes tribunal, set up by the Central government, after hearing the decades long water sharing dispute between Goa, Karnataka and Maharashtra, allotted 13.42 thousand million cubic feet (TMC) (including 3.9 TMC for diversion into the depleted Malaprabha river basin) to Karnataka and 1.33 TMC to Maharashtra in August 2018.( With inputs from IANS )

GoaFOLLOW

Goa, Latest News

It was like an extended Christmas and an advance New Year celebration for the 3,500-village folk of Varad, in the coastal Konkan region, bound on one side by the Arabian Sea and on the other by the Western Ghats. ...

In a series of tweets, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Monday expressed his support for the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), while also accusing the Opposition of spreading lies vis-a-vis the legislation which has triggered sustained protests throu ...

Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Friday said he would write to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and seek his intervention in the escalated dispute between BJP-ruled Goa and Karnataka with regard to the Kalasa-Banduri water diversion project. ...

Hours after a woman tourist from Maharashtra died in a road accident on a major bridge near Panaji as her scooter collided with a four-wheeler, Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Friday wondered why tourists who cannot even drive hire self-driven ve ...

Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Friday held a press conference pertaining to the ongoing Mahadayi river water sharing issue and said, "If required, we will also go against the Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change." ...

The 13th edition of Sunburn music festival, which is about to launch in Goa, has an interesting line-up of artistes, especially domestic deejays. ...

Union Minister for Environment and Forests Prakash Javadekar's recent letter to the Karnataka government stating that the Kalasa-Banduri project does not need environmental clearance has no legal standing, Goa's Water Resources Minister Filipe Neri R ...

The Opposition has once again accused the BJP-led coalition governments in Goa and Karnataka of betraying the interests of the coastal state in the dispute with Karnataka over Mhadei river water. ...