Malim jetty NOC sparks fresh tensions over river nationalisation
PANAJI
At the time of signing the MoU between the State and the Centre, the then Chief Minister late Manohar Parrikar had claimed that nationalisation of rivers has given Goa's rivers "national importance" while control over them remains with the State.
Eight years later, the position on 'nationalisation of rivers' hasn't quite translated the way Parrikar said it would, much as the unilateral grant of an NOC to a Mumbai firm to build a private jetty at Malim by the Centre's Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) indicates.
The development threatens to escalate into a confrontation with the State digging its heels and the Captain of Ports insisting that the authority in respect of setting up of jetties even if the Mandovi river has been nationalised, rests with the State government.
A minister in the Pramod Sawant-led cabinet, Tourism Minister Rohan Khaunte, too expressed similar sentiments, furious over the obscure and secretive manner in which the Centre approved the private jetty slated to come up at Malim in his constituency without any consultation.
How that 'confrontation' will play out with governments in the State and at the Centre belonging to the same Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), is anybody's guess.
Nonetheless, the digital NOC granted under the National Waterways (Construction of Jetties/Terminals) Regulations, 2025, via INWA's portal, permits Mumbai-based Marina India Infrastructure Private Limited to set up the jetty with a capacity to berth up to 16 yachts and other crafts of up to 30 metres length. The company has pegged the investment to build the jetty at Rs 8 crore. It will have facilities for docking and undocking of the yachts and other crafts for each trip and is expected to boost river cruise tourism in the Mandovi river waterway.
When it does come up, it will be Goa's first private jetty and the maiden affirmative action by the Centre under the controversial nationalisation of Goa's rivers some eight years ago.
2 CMs rejected river nationalisation
Two chief ministers, first Digambar Kamat in 2010 and subsequently the late Manohar Parrikar in his stint before he went to Delhi as Defence Minister in 2012-14, had rejected the UPA-II government's proposal to nationalise the State's six rivers.
The State eventually consented to the fresh proposal from the Centre under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government in 2016 during the tenure of the BJP's government led by Laxmikant Parsekar. Thus six Goan rivers -- Chapora, Cumbharjua Canal, Mandovi, Mapusa, Sal and Zuari -- came to be nationalised under the 2016 law passed by the Centre.
It had kicked up a major row in the State with Opposition parties and activists accusing the BJP State government of surrendering the State's authority over its inland rivers to the Centre.
In response to the uproar, Parrikar who had returned as Chief Minister after the 2017 elections had claimed that the nationalisation of rivers only gave Goa's rivers "national importance" while control remained with the State government.
More recently in August last year, the Opposition had disrupted a day's proceedings during the monsoon session of the Goa Legislative Assembly, accusing the BJP government of "selling Goa's rivers" to the Centre and sacrificing the State's interests.
The new development, where IWAI has granted the NoC for a private jetty at Malim, may act as a trigger for a fresh round of agitations across Goa beginning with Malim where the development has already roiled up the local MLA who is also a minister in the Sawant cabinet, the local panchayat and several residents.
Maritime industry favours nationalisation
Nationalising the rivers while having big implications related to the environmental policy besides the way rivers are used by the local population, especially the fishing community, is being backed by players in the maritime industry who have for over a decade eyed the potential of backwater tourism, the way it has thrived in Kerala.
Industry sources say it will ensure uniform policies for pollution control and ecological conservation and thus give a fillip to investment in infrastructure, like the jetty in Malim. The government (Central) will be in a position to enforce, more stringently, adherence to environmental regulations, including industrial discharges thus improving the quality of the river waters and also protecting local ecosystems.
Locals may be edged out
Local communities, particularly, the fishing community for whom Goa's rivers are a lifeline, may lose control and access to the rivers. This is one fear that prompted the movement against the river nationalisation project of the Centre back in 2016-17.
Another reason that motivated the protests across Goa, mostly in South Goa, was fear that jetties, like the one approved in Malim now, would come up along the banks of the six nationalised rivers, meant specifically to facilitate iron ore and coal transportation. Large-scale projects, like the Marina proposed and shelved multiple times at Nauxim on the northern bank of the Zuari, which could be environmentally devastating, were also the crux of those protests.
Maritime industry sources said the local fears were legitimate but the nationalisation of the rivers can be a win-win for all if a balanced approach is taken, incorporating the local needs and taking into account measures that are needed to protect the environment.
