At a time when scores of movements across the state have picked up momentum against the infrastructure projects through Mollem forests, the Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Prakash Javadekar’s comments that he has not received any memorandum against these projects have sparked a flurry of questions from civil society across the state.
His feigned ignorance of the three projects has been questioned by many, as several letters, memorandums, and requests from citizen groups and legislators were written to him and his ministry a couple of months ago.
“Nothing in writing has come to me so far. I will consider it when anything comes to me,” the Union minister said responding to a question about the opposition to the three projects.
On the contrary, however, dozens of groups had written to the Union Minister and also the National Board for Wildlife (NBW), whose Chairman is Javadekar himself, expressing their dissatisfaction in the manner in which such projects were cleared without proper EIA’s and taking local into considerations.
The clearances to these projects have now been challenged before the High Court as well as the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) constituted by the Supreme Court on grounds that they have been cleared in a hasty manner and that the projects threaten the rich biodiversity of the Goa’s Western ghats region.
It is learnt that over 20,000 students, lawyers, and citizen groups from Goa had written to the MoEF&CC about the opposition to these projects. But the ministers claimed to have not received any opposition to the same.
Furthermore, a few months ago, a group of over 150 scientists, wildlife researchers, and tourism entrepreneurs from the state had written to the ministry about the problems these infrastructure projects and its effects on Goa’s biodiversity and ecology.
However, the minister claiming to have not received any letters/memorandums begs the question as to whether he is lying, or hasn’t been responsive to people’s opposition.
“Give us a new way of communication and we will send you all the memorandums you need,” an official post from Save Mollem campaigners said.
MLA’s including BJP’s Alina Saldanha and Congress’s leader Alexio Reginaldo Lourenco had written to the Union minister about these projects. The Mollem campaigners have called upon the civil society to urge elected representatives to follow up their memorandums with the Union minister, and if needed, they stated they will be willing to re-send all the letters to the minister, provided he discloses a proper channel to send the communications.
“I was part of the 150 scientists and allied practitioners who wrote to the National Board for Wildlife of which Mr. Javadekar is the Chairperson. The state and center cannot go ahead and make such decisions on behalf of the people that are neither based on science nor take into consideration the concerns of citizens,” said Panaji based wildlife biologist Nandini Velho.
The people have now decided to speak up even louder, as opposition to the projects are only growing, and with the minister’s denial of having received any opposition memorandums, local groups have decided to amplify their voices against the infrastructure projects bound to destroy Goa’s rich forests.
