So the brutal might of the state has been unleashed on one man, whose organisation has single-handedly fought against the destruction of Goa and its resources and stood in the way of its abject loot and plunder, under the tutelage and duly abetted by the ruling party in government.
The orchestrated, and cowardly move, by the mining MLAs to contemplate an inquiry against Goa Foundation, (specifically targeting its icon Claude Alvares), stating that it could be done by the Crime Branch, the CBI or SIT, is borne out of frustration and also fear that Goa Foundation’s interventions in court, may well put a stop to all anti people projects backed by this government.
If the government decides to probe the Goa Foundation, for being “anti national” and to wants to trace its source of funds, a similar probe must be made of the growth of assets and wealth of the mining MLAs. The probe should also cover the source of funds received by these MLAs to contest their elections and check if mining companies, who these MLAs are batting for, funded their elections with money and manpower. Nilesh Cabral, Ganesh Gaonkar, Subhash Phaldesai and Pramod Sawant, are you prepared for a probe into who funded your assembly elections? Claude Alvares is prepared for a probe into his source of funding, the results of which will embarrass you. Goa waits for your replies.
These MLAs have no interest in the resumption of mining for the sake of the mining affected. They want resumption of mining (illegal or otherwise) to further their personal business interests in mining and for the sake of their big mining daddies. They want mining which was stopped by their Chief Minister in September 2012 to start because their businesses have stopped. It was the petition of the same Goa Foundation which led to the Supreme Court ordering the start of mining but through a controlled process, under the MMDR Act so that the State gets full value of its minerals and not mining sharks.
Goa Foundation has challenged the manner in which the State undertook renewals trying to beat the MMDR ordinance which cancelled all renewals. The renewals were done under a mining policy which was notified (on January 20) after the last of the renewals were done on January 12, the day the MMDR ordinance came into effect. Goa Foundation went to court against this fraud, and not to prevent mining resumption.
The mining MLAs consider this act as anti-national. If national interest is ‘self interest’ of mining companies, then Goa Foundation has surely gone against this kind of ‘national interest’. May God give them strength to commit more such acts.
As an aside consider this. When Goa’s warrior priest, Father Bismarque suddenly died and there were enough unanswered questions and indications, which indicated that he was killed, it took a citizens’ campaign with a demand from the family to transfer the case to the Crime Branch after allowing the supremely inefficient Old Goa Police to botch up the case in the first ten days. In this case, all it took a mere request by one mining belt MLA Nilesh Cabral, perfectly timed to coincide with the decisive hearing in the Supreme Court challenging the legality of the mining lease renewals, for the Chief Minister to say he would consider initiating an inquiry against Goa
Foundation.
The government is only lowering itself to the last possible point of even contemplating equating the Goa Foundation and its founders to the likes of those facing criminal charges of grabbing land in the Serula Comunidade (Dilip Parulekar), taking bribes from Louis Berger to facilitate a consultancy contract for a sewerage and pipeline project (Digambar Kamat & Churchill Alemao) or grabbing land in the GIDC and buying huge amounts of land in Kerala from ill gotten wealth (Babu Kavlekar). Across political lines, corruption is a disease and the targets are those who are fighting this.
At the same time there is an absolutely fit case for a probe against this very government for the manner in which the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority, issued a prior Environment Clearance to Leading Hotels for their Tiracol project. This manipulation has been exposed by Herald many months ago and we shall do so again to remind the people of Goa. The way the land has been seized from the Tiracol farmers, via negative declarations extracted from them, violates the basics of the Tenancy Act. The State is a partner in this violation and the matter is in the National Green Tribunal. Yet the State Government in its reply to the petition of the Goa Foundation, in its latest Writ Petition and SLP in the Apex Court, has the gall to say that the Goa Foundation has “filed several litigations targeting the State’s vital infrastructure projects such as bridges (Mandovi and Tiracol) and Garbage Treatment Plant (Saligao), against the interests of the nation”.
We answer each of these myths floated by the State that these litigations are against national interests.
A) Is the Tiracol Golf Course project, villas and the bridge in the interest of the nation? Or in the private interest of Leading Hotels and the politicians who brought them here – Pratapsingh Rane – and those who nurtured and allowed them to prosper – Digambar Kamat (for introducing eco tourism projects, which are backdoor entry points for real estate projects like Tiracol) and Manohar Parrikar and Laxmikant Parsekar for ignoring local pleas, pressurising the Forest department to manipulate records to allow the cutting of trees as well building the Tiracol bridge at State expense only to benefit access to a private project.
B) Does the Mandovi bridge construction conform to all environmental parameters? Does it not include construction in areas which are ecologically fragile? Has a proper and credible Environment Impact Assessment been done? Is it financially viable with the State having to resort to heavy borrowing with no central funds coming for it? Isn’t it in national interest to ask these questions and approach the courts of answers are not given?
C) What is the national interest in making the taxpayer pay Rs 399 crore for a garbage treatment plant for 100 tonnes of waste, when it can be done at 5% that cost? The hoax that the private company is investing Rs 146 crore has been exposed. Against this sum, the State has to pay a Gross Annual Operations Support Grant in equal instalments of Rs 29.90 crore annually for the next 10 years as the amount has to be paid back to the promoters with interest, which comes to Rs 299 cr in 10 years, more than double the amount invested. The State will also pay the promoters Rs 1562 per tonne of waste handled at the site, which comes to Rs 9 crore annually, which would total to Rs 90 cr at the end of 10 years. So at the end of 10 years, the State would actually have paid the promoters an amount of Rs 389 crore. So why is the government calling it a Rs 146 crore plant and not Rs 389 crore plant?
Is challenging all this against national interest?
These mining MLAs have committed a political blunder which will expose them completely. Nilesh Cabral says, “I feel only anti-national people might (sic) be with him (Alvares)”. Mr Cabral is not personally at fault. He is only the voice of a government which has alienated itself completely from the people it was elected to serve.
