‘Send shockwaves to Centre through out-of-box steps’

Porvorim: If the Centre does not withdraw the approvals granted to Karnataka’s plans to divert water from the Mhadei river basin, then all 40 legislators should resign to put pressure on it, the opposition said on Thursday. Opposition leader Yuri Alemao said that such a move would “create a constitutional crisis” and “put pressure on the Centre” to consider Goa’s concerns.
He said the Centre has approved Karnataka’s detailed project report for its water diversion projects with an eye on the coming assembly polls in the neighbouring state. He blamed the Centre for “belittling” Goa with “appeasement of voters” as the sole objective.
Saying that the Centre has “made Mhadei a political weapon”, Alemao called for unanimity among all parties.
Alemao, who was speaking during the discussion on the Mhadei water dispute, also urged the state to adopt a scientific approach and start work on the 62 check dams along the Mhadei river and its tributaries. The other demands of the Congress were that the Centre stop permitting any proposals of Karnataka until the Supreme Court and the Mahadayi Water Disputes Tribunal give their final verdicts.
Insisting that Goa is now on the backfoot, he said that the state needs to do “something out of the box” to send “shockwaves” to the Centre. Alemao also questioned BJP’s silence, particularly the saffron party’s frontal organisations on the Mhadei issue.