Thaindian News

Panaji, Jan 17 (IANS) Maharashtra Water Resources Minister Sunil Tatkare Monday asked the Goa government to honour a 20-year-old agreement to provide jobs to 630 families in Maharashtra, affected by a inter-state dam project. Speaking to reporters here after a meeting with his Goa counterpart Filipe Neri Rodrigues, Tatkare said that while Rodrigues had assured that he would “seriously look” into the matter, the state government needed to provide the jobs in a time-bound fashion.

“As per the Tillari dam agreement signed by the two state governments in 1990, the Goa government was to have 73 percent share of the water and bear a similar percentage of the total cost of the constructing the dam. Eleven villages and 850 families were affected due to the construction of the dam and the catchment area,” Tatkare said.

“The Maharashtra government has fulfilled its commitment as per the agreement to provide government jobs to 200 odd families (on the basis of one government job per family), now it is the Goa government’s turn. They have unfortunately not fulfilled their part of the bargain. Some of the affected people who are eligible for government jobs have now reached the age of 45,” Tatkare said.

“If the Goa government cannot give them jobs, they should at least emulate and opt for a scheme like the Maharashtra government’s, by giving them a one-time settlement in lieu of a job,” he said.

The Rs.1,612 crore-worth Tillari dam project, in Maharashtra’s Sindhudurg district, is a joint undertaking by the both the state governments and was commissioned in May 2009 and is aimed at fulfilling the potable water needs of the south Maharashtra and north Goa region.

The construction of the dam, which was delayed considerably resulted in displacement of 11 villages and 1,236 families comprising 5,276 people in all. One of the Maharashtrian villages affected by the construction of the dam was even relocated across the border in the Bicholim taluka of Goa.