Congress will corner Manohar Parrikar govt in Goa on river 'nationalisation'

Panaji: The Congress party which met on Monday evening to chalk out its strategy for the Winter Session of the Assembly starting on Wednesday said it would corner the Manohar Parrikar government over the “nationalisation” of the state’s rivers. [caption id=“attachment_4198035” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar. PTI[/caption] Leader of Opposition Chandrakant Kavlekar told reporters that it was decided during the CLP meeting on Monday to demand a half hour discussion on nationalisation of rivers on the floor of the House. “We want the Goa government to pass a resolution on the floor of the House to remove all the six rivers from the National Waterways Act, 2016,” Kavlekar added. Kavlekar said that the party had also written to Union minister for shipping Nitin Gadkari requesting him to delete all the six rivers from the proposal of nationalisation. He claimed that the nationalisation of rivers is against the sentiments of the people. The Congress’ decision came hours after Parrikar held a presentation for state MLAs, including from the opposition, and NGOs on the memorandum signed by the state with the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI). Parrikar had refuted that the state would lose control over the rivers. The CM claimed that the exercise is “not nationalisation of rivers” but “notification of rivers as that of national importance”.