MARGAO: Chief minister Pramod Sawant on Monday reiterated that the IIT campus will be set up in South Goa. “Search for the land is ongoing. The IIT campus will be set up in South Goa,” he said. However, he declined to comment whether it would still come up in Sanguem. Protesters in Sanguem had rejoiced after the Union education ministry said in November 2022 that the land identified by the state government at Cortali, Sanguem, will no longer be considered to set up the IIT campus.The Union ministry had informed Goa that the land identified in Sanguem was not suitable for IIT and that it had decided not to send a site selection committee to inspect the same. The 7 lakh sqm land was found to be insufficient.Following this, Sanguem MLA Subhash Phal Dessai had said more land adjoining the identified site would be added to the property to make it suitable for a permanent campus for IIT. IIT Goa became operational in 2016 and ever since the Goa government has been trying to find suitable land for a permanent campus for the institute.It is presently operating from its temporary campus at the Goa Engineering College, Farmagudi.
Search for the land is going on, he said. (File photo)Panaji: A campus of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) will come up in South Goa and efforts are on to identify a suitable land for it, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant has said.The state government had earlier identified a land for setting up the IIT campus at Shel-Melaulim village in Sattari taluka of North Goa district, but the project was then scrapped following violent protests by locals in 2021.Later, another piece of land was identified at Cotarli in Sanguem taluka of South Goa district but as it was insufficient, the project was dropped last year.The issue was discussed during the recently held winter session of the Goa Assembly.Talking to reporters on Monday, Mr Sawant said, "The IIT campus would be set up in South Goa. Search for the land is going on." The CM had earlier said in the state Assembly that some people were going around opposing the land acquisition for the IIT Goa campus.PromotedListen to the latest songs, only on JioSaavn.comHe had refused to reveal the area where the land was being identified, fearing “unnecessary protest". During a discussion in the House on the issue, Congress MLA Altone D'Costa, who represents Quepem Assembly segment in South Goa, had asked the state government to set up the IIT campus in his constituency.He had said land was available at Betul in Quepem constituency to set up the institute campus.Featured Video Of The DaySonu Sood Sings 'Dil Chori', Soldiers Love His Desi Swag
PROVORIM: If permission to Karnataka’s detailed project report (DPR) for the Mhadei water diversion is not withdrawn by the Centre, then chief minister Pramod Sawant should never use the term ‘doubleengine sarkar’ again, Fatorda GFP MLA Vijai Sardesai said in the House on Thursday. This will be a failure of the double-engine government, and it will prove that having a BJP government at the Centre and in the state has no meaning, he said. Sardesai moved an amendment to the house resolution on the Mhadei and demanded that a resolution be passed by the House stating that within the next six months the Goa government will take up work on all 59 projects to tap the Mhadei’s water, as recommended by the 1999 masterplan. This will make the state’s case against Karnataka stronger, he said. “During the last assembly session, the CM said that the coal handling capacity at Mormugao port will not be increased at any cost. But, yesterday, approval was received to increase coal handling,” said Sardesai, adding the same may happen in the case of the Mhadei diversion issue, despite chief minister Pramod Sawant’s assurances. He said that it is not the opposition that is playing politics over the Mhadei issue. That the approval to Karnataka’s diversion project came ahead of elections there shows that BJP at the Centre is using it as a political issue, he said. “Our advocate general says that no water has been diverted from the main Mhadei, but water from the Kalasa and the Bhandura nullahs have been diverted. This is like saying that one hand and one leg of a patient have been amputated, but he is doing fine.” He said that while the government did not even find the issue worth mentioning in the governor’s address, it was good to see the issue now being discussed as critical by BJP MLAs. “The ruling MLAs are saying the BJP government will give justice on the Mhadei issue, and we are supposed to silently accept it and go along with it. You cannot expect us to be cheerleaders,” said Sardesai. Sardesai said that an amendment brought by Union minister Prakash Jawadekar allows states like Karnataka to go ahead with drinking water projects without any forest clearances, which will make it simpler for Karnataka to bulldoze its water diversion works.
Porvorim: Amidst a serious debate on Karnataka’s plans to divert water from the Mhadei river basin, agriculture minister Ravi Naik once again reiterated his plan to build several dams across Goa to store rainwater for consumption and export. Naik said that Goa can use the dam water to earn foreign exchange through export of water. “The central government should give us Rs 20,000 crore and we can build as many dams that we want, and we can store as much water as we want,” said Naik. Naik was speaking on a government resolution to demand that the Centre withdraw the approvals granted to Karnataka’s detailed project report for water diversion from the Mhadei. Naik said that Goa gets a significant amount of rain, which is not efficiently utilised. He said that Goa can even explore the possibility of exporting water to countries in exchange for fuel. “The approvals for DPR should be withdrawn by the Centre. There can be wars over water in the future and for this we need to be alert,” said Naik.
On the Goa-Karnataka border, at the foothills of the Western Ghats, a tiny village is in the eye of a storm. It is in this village of Kankumbi, where Karnataka has started its work of diverting water from the Mhadei.Four short concrete pillars in the Kankumbi forest range, across the Kalasa, stand testimony to Karnataka’s intention to divert water from Goa’s lifeline into the Malaprabha basin.Further north of the Kalasa, there are large canals carrying water into the Malaprabha basin. This work began without any forest clearances. But even as Karnataka has embarked on the Mhadei diversion project—officially and unofficially—the tiny state of Goa continues to keep going back to the drawing board, deliberating and discussing ways and most often than not failing to come up with solutions to utilise the Mhadei water.Over three decades after a masterplan was drawn in 1999 to utilise the Mhadei’s water by envisaging 61 projects across the river, Goa has only the Anjunem and the Amthane reservoirs to show.Goa had even submitted before the Mhadei Water Disputes Tribunal that it intends to meet the demand for its ‘major uses’ through these projects and 61 dams are required to meet Goa’s water requirement up to 2051. But except for the two reservoirs, the rest 59 projects continue to remain on paper, with the state initiating the process for 10 minor dams just two years ago. Karnataka has long argued that the Mhadei’s waters flow into the sea and therefore, it should be allowed to divert only to meet its “drinking water requirements” in Hubballi and Dharwad.Manoj Borkar, who has been researching Goa’s faunal taxa for three decades, said that Karnataka’s argument that Goa is allowing its water to flow into the sea is foolish at best.“That is the natural cycle of the river. If the flow is stopped it would not be a river. The Mhadei is a river upstream, which as it meanders down turns into an estuary before it meets the sea. The delicate balance in salinity in its coastal plains is maintained by a cycle of precipitation and evaporation, which will be destroyed if the water flow is stopped at Kankumbi,” he said.But it is only in 2020, more than two decades later, that the Goa water resources department initiated the process to set up 10 minor dams in the Mandovi basin and soil investigation was carried out with assistance from the forest department.Of the 10 minor reservoirs for which survey and investigation work was taken up, work on two located at Dharbandora in Kajumol and in Tatodi was expected to be taken up first. But with the matter now pending before the Supreme Court, Goa will require several clearances before the work can begin.“The projects still need to go through many stages, environment impact assessment and get forest and wildlife clearances. The projects also need approval of the central water commission of the Union ministry of water resources — irrespective of the fact that they are minor projects — since they are in a contested basin,” said a senior government official.A report by a private entity, on behalf of the Goa Energy Development Agency and the water resources department, has clearly stated that there is a potential for hydro power projects at nine locations across the state, including on the Mhadei’s waters at Harvalem waterfall, Anjunem dam and Amthane minor irrigation tank.Initial reviews of site conditions indicate that 100kW, 70kW and 20kW micro hydro machines can be installed at site locations.“Hydroelectricity projects were first conceptualised on the Mhadei in the 1960s and even the foundation stone was laid. Though it was found unfeasible at the time, new technology now makes it feasible. The draft State Water Policy, 2021, had also suggested that the process of setting up hydro power plants in Goa’s river basins needs to be expedited,” said an expert.A study by SR Shetye (former director of National Institute of Oceanography), D Shankar, Neetu S and K Suprit shows that the run-off from the Mandovi is much higher than the present dam storage capacity created by the Goa government to date.“The only functional dam on the Mandovi is the Anjunem Dam. The storage capacity of the dam is 45Mcum, less than 1% of the runoff estimated in Panaji. On the Zuari, there exists a much bigger dam, the Selaulim dam. With a storage capacity of about 227Mcum (about 10% of the Zuari’s virgin flow at its mouth near Cortalim),” said the study. Experts like Sachin Tendulkar, a 2007 Fulbright scholar who has studied hydrological problems in Australia, reckon that Goa must get serious about managing its water resources better and should start by drawing catchment management plans.“Water basins are unique. We need to arrive at this golden mean as to what extent we can stretch our catchment areas. The Mhadei issue is a wake-up call,” he said.
PORVORIM: Chief minister Pramod Sawant on Wednesday said illegal houses on government and comunidade land will be demolished. He made the statement in the assembly while passing a bill to grant a 90-day extension to regularise illegal houses. The state on Wednesday passed the Goa Regularisation of Unauthorised Construction (Amendment) Bill, 2023. Revenue minister Atanasio ‘Babush’ Monserrate said at least 4,800 applications are pending. The government also passed the Goa Land Revenue Code (Amendment) Bill, 2023, to do away with the need for approval from the revenue department for activities undertaken in pursuance of permission granted under the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulations) Act, 1957. Sawant said this bill will be applicable to those leases that were permitted before 2007 even as opposition leader Yuri Alemao demanded that the bill be sent to a select committee in case the government is not aware of the changes made in it. The Indian Stamp (Goa Amendment) Bill, 2023, was passed too, to include brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law within the ambit of a gift deed execution. Presently, the prescribed stamp duty on gifts is Rs 5,000 if the instrument of the gift deed is carried out in favour of fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, wives, husbands, daughters, sons, grandsons or granddaughters.
PORVORIM: Goa chief minister Pramod Sawant on Wednesday said illegal houses on government and Comunidade land would be demolished. He made the statement in the assembly while passing a bill to grant a 90-day extension to regularise illegal houses. The state government on Wednesday passed The Goa Regularisation of Unauthorised Construction (Amendment) Bill, 2023, to grant an extension of 90 days to file applications for regularising unauthorised houses in Goa. Revenue minister Atanasio ‘Babush’ Monserrate said at least 4,800 applications are pending. The government also passed the Goa Land Revenue Code (Amendment) Bill, 2023, to do away with the need for approval from the revenue department for activities undertaken in pursuance of permission granted under the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulations) Act, 1957.Sawant said this bill would be applicable to those leases that were permitted before 2007 even as opposition leader Yuri Alemao demanded that the bill be sent to a select committee in case the government is not aware of the changes made in it.
PANAJI: The auction of four mining blocks and the nod for the auction of rejected ore will usher in a new era for Goa’s mining industry, said state governor S Sreedharan Pillai on Monday. Speaking on the first day of the winter session of the state legislative assembly, Pillai said that the Pramod Sawant government’s efforts to restart mining operations had paid off.“My government’s efforts to resume mining have finally borne fruits. I am happy to state that permission is given to auction the dumps or rejected ore which will initiate the process of starting full-fledged mining,” said Pillai. “A new era has begun for the mining sector in Goa”.Pillai said the resumption of mining operations was a major step to ensure employment for locals and end the hardship faced by the mining-dependent workers.Four iron ore mining blocks have been auctioned and the allotment orders have been issued. Three blocks in Bicholim and one in Sanguem taluka were auctioned off with the mining firms paying a premium of 63.55 per cent, 99.25 per cent, 111.28 per cent and 86.40 per cent for the ore.The auction process concluded on December 21 and all the successful bidders have made the upfront payment of 20% or Rs 43.19 crore each.
Panaji: The state will auction the rest of the mining leases within three months considering mining activities for the next 50 years, said chief minister Pramod Sawant on Sunday. The state will also formulate a policy to handle dumps on private and government land to start dump mining, he said.“We will complete the auctioning of mining blocks before March 31,” Sawant said. He also handed over the letters of intent to the successful bidders of the four recently auctioned iron ore blocks in Sankhali to operate for 50 years. He said that if the mining leases were renewed between 2007 and 2012, the existing companies would have been able to operate them for the next 25 years. “Because the leases were not renewed, the so-called environmentalists got the opportunity to approach the Supreme Court. There is a possibility that iron ore was extracted beyond the permissible limit, but the leases were not renewed by the previous government. The government is continuing the process. If my government had not auctioned the blocks then Goa would have faced its ill effects. Considering the next 50 years, I have auctioned mining leases,” the chief minister said, even as he urged the successful bidders not to do injustice to the earlier mining staff.Stating that the state government consistently followed up on the case for revival of the mining industry in the state, he said, “The revival shall provide employment opportunities in mining areas as well as boost the overall economy of the state. I am happy to hand over LOIs to the successful bidders namely, Vedanta Ltd, Salgaocar Shipping Pvt Ltd, Rajaram Bandekar (Sirigao) Mines Pvt Ltd and the Fomento Group,” Sawant said.Sawant said that the way the state government helped mining dependents after mining activities came to a halt is unprecedented in the country. The delay in conducting the auction, he said, was because he was trying to convince the Union government that the second renewal was valid and mining companies should be allowed to operate their leases. Director of mines and geology Suresh Shanbhogue said that all efforts would be made to start full scale mining activities in Goa. “We will float notice inviting tenders (NIT) at regular intervals. This month the second NIT will be floated. I urge successful bidders to approach the authorities for fresh approvals,” he said.
