SAKHALI: The Maharashtra government has restarted work on Virdi dam which was halted in 2015. The Goa water resource department (WRD) team visited the site on Saturday and prepared a detailed report on the development of the ongoing work, which is in full swing.
The Goa government has taken a serious note of the work and WRD chief engineer and chief secretary have already written a letter to the Maharashtra government regarding the work being undertaken.
It may be noted that the work being carried out by the neighbouring state is illegal. Due to the work being undertaken, Kattika Nalla, a sub-tributary of Valvanti river has mostly dried up except for a few patches of water. Maharashtra had undertaken the work of constructing the dam across the Kattika Nalla in Virdi for diverting water to villages of Dodamarg taluka. However, since the project aims at diverting water from the Mhadei basin to the Tillari basin, the Goa government has raised objections before the Mhadei Water Disputes Tribunal.
Chief Secretary Dharmendra Sharma will be writing to the Maharashtra Chief Secretary on the recent development at the dam site.
According to the Maharashtra team at Virdi, they are only carrying out some work before the monsoon. However, according to information from sources, the neighbouring state is planning to complete the dam work soon after monsoon. V I Shetty and Company has undertaken the work of Virdi Irrigation Project and mud-filling is going on at the dam site. “We will complete the unfinished work of the Virdi project,” said the contractor present at the dam site.