Farmers Movement Archive

‘No talks on Mhadei, Goa CM will give details’

PANAJI: Union environment minister Prakash Javadekar on Sunday refused to comment on the Mhadei issue, claiming that it was sub-judice. He also said that there was no discussion between him and the state government on the issue on his visit to Goa. “CM Pramod Sawant will answer the question in detail,” Javadekar said when asked to comment on the permission given to Karnataka to divert waters of the river. “The matter is in court and nothing is happening.” He also said that nothing related to the Mhadei issue is pending with his ministry, adding that Mhadei issues do not go to the Union environment ministry. The state government has decided to file a contempt petition against Karnataka in the Supreme Court for diverting the waters of the Kalasa nullah of the Mhadei into the Malaprabha basin at Kankumbi. The water resources department team inspected the site where the diversion was carried out, and have also taken photographs. The petition has already been drafted and has been sent to the legal team for vetting. During lockdown, Karnataka tampered with the Kalasa river bed gradient to reverse the flow of water in the direction of interconnecting canals that join the Malaprabha basin. The diversion came to light when a team from Goa visited Kankumbi on September 1, after border restrictions were lifted. TOI was the first to report that Karnataka diverted the Kalasa waters. Nearly a year ago, Javadekar courted controversy after he tweeted saying Karnataka had been given an EC for a drinking water project (which meant diversion of water from the Mhadei). After protests, he withdrew the tweet. In 2015, after Goa brought it to the notice of the Mhadei Water Disputes Tribunal that Karnataka was diverting water of the Kalasa nulla into the Malaprabha basin, the tribunal asked Karnataka to construct a masonry embankment to stop the flow of the Kalasa waters into the Malaprabha. Javadekar, however, was in Goa to promote the three farmers’ bill passed in parliament — the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020, and The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, 2020. The President has already assented to them. Those protesting bills are ‘dalals of dalals’ Panaji: Union environment minister Prakash Javadekar branded the opposition “dalal of dalals”, and slammed their opposition to the farmers’ bills. He said that the bills would affect dalals (brokers) the most. Responding to the protest at Mapusa by farmers over the bills, Javadekar said he didn’t know whether or not they were farmers. He said Congress and NCP have announced programmes to protest the bills, and these are political protests. Javadekar also said that through these bills, farmers would be able to sell foodgrains at their own decided price. He also said that Congress, in its 2019 manifesto, said it would bring improvement through farmers bills.

The Times of India

2020-10-05

Goa