The Travel and Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG) on Thursday appealed citizens to refrain from disrupting and harming the tourism in the state on the issue of the Mhadei river dispute between Goa and Karnataka.
In a press statement, Savio Messias, President, TTAG, said: "The TTAG would like to appeal to all Goans to refrain from disrupting or opposing the declining tourism in the state of Goa because of the Mhadei issue. We do understand that the Mhadei issue is a serious issue that needs to be settled expeditiously and we are equally concerned about it, but it should not be at the cost of destroying tourism in our state of Goa."
He further stated that tourism was declining in Goa and in the garb of solving the Mhadei issue, the people of Goa should not be seen as responsible for the destruction of tourism in Goa.
"In correcting or objecting to one wrong we cannot do another wrong. We need to be positive rather than negative in our approach," he said.
Earlier, Congress workers staged a protest in Goa after Javdekar granted consent to Karnataka's Kalasa-Bhandura project, which is undertaken by the Karnataka government aims to improve drinking water supply to the Belagavi, Dharwad and Gadag districts.
The sharing of the waters of the Mhadei river has been the cause of a dispute between the governments of Karnataka and Goa for over two decades.