PANJIM, SEPT 22
The residents of Chorao who are up-in- arms against the Department of Forest over its proposal to declare Dr Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary as Critical Wildlife Habitat (CWH) have now threatened to boycott the public hearing scheduled on September 24, which they had requested the office of the Conservator of Forest postpone it to September 30.
Sarpanch Pandurang Bandodkar had made the submission to the department of forest requesting it to conduct the hearing on Sunday however his request was turned down.
Speaking to Herald, Esperance Rodrigues, Convenor of Chorao Civic and Consumer Forum (CCCF), said the department has been desperate to declare Dr Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary as CWH and has declined their genuine request.
While she claimed that islanders are happy with the visits of the migratory birds and according to their knowledge there is no fear of extinction of any of the species , they are completely opposed to turn it into CWH.
“This is indeed very disappointing. Why would the forest department not want to hear the views of the islanders? Unless the department is just hell-bent on doing what it wants. However, we have decided not take the matter lightly,” she said.
The CCCF has also written to Minister of Forest, Filipe Neri Rodrigues to take stock of the situation and postpone hearing in the interest of islanders else they will be compelled to boycott it.
Till date villagers have not received the basic information from the department . Moreover, the guidelines to notify the CWH were not followed and elected local representatives was thrown out of the State Level Expert Committee(SLEC), alleged the Covenor.
Also, SLEC did not provide the gram sabha with complete and correct information on the proposed CWH.
Fearing that land sharks and hoteliers are eager to grab their lands the residents have decided to intensify their agitation.
“The people of Chorao are bracing themselves to enforce their “right to know” as well as their “right to say no” and will take our battle forward from September 27 all the way to the office of Jairam Ramesh, Union Minister for Environment and Forest,” declared CCCF Convenor.
