29 Oct 2020 | 04:22am IST
People’s action to protect Goa: Is it making a difference?
On Tuesday evening one of the main groups fighting against the three main environmentally destructive projects Goyant Kollso Naka held a midnight protest at the Sao Jose De Areal railway crossing where work on laying the tracks as a part of the double tracking project was about to commence. With a government refusing to pause to discuss the reasons for a massive state wide protest against his and two other projects the People vs Govt narrative is reaching a flashpoint
Ajit John
There
are agitations taking place in the state against various projects in the state,
the
three planned
projects
involve
diversion of a total of 250 hectares of forest land and felling of 59,000 trees
from the notified Wildlife Sanctuary, National Park, Eco Sensitive Areas of the
Western Ghats. Is the government taking these agitations seriously or do they
plan to just bulldoze their way through. Café spoke to people involved in the
agitation as well as ordinary Goans who have an opinion on the matter.
We
are frustrated but we will tell the government what Goans are made of
Seeing
the current situation, the elected representatives are giving the public a deaf
year and are going ahead fully fledged with these projects. We the
protesters we will do our best to protect our Goa even if we have to lie down
under a bulldozer or on a railway track. We will do it. And people have
reached a boiling point after work that was carried out in San Jose de Areal at
midnight on Tuesday late night. We are frustrated and we will show the government
what the people are made of. The government will not listen and go full
throttle. They feel Goenkars will come in small numbers but we will show
we are united and we will show our strength
-
Cecille
Rodrigues , Social activist
The govt is least bothered,
but they have duty to the people
I don’t think the
government is least bothered about what people are saying and I don’t know what
is pressuring them to not listen to the people who elected them. If the
government does not listen then the people are not going to keep quiet. They
have a duty to listen to the people who elected them
-
Father Bolmax
Pereira, Parish Priest Chicalim
The Govt is not even
addressing the issues raised by the campaign
I don’t think they are
serious. They are not even addressing the issues raised by the campaign and
seem focused on defending the decisions taken by them. I think what can help us
is that certain aspects of the projects are being looked at by the high court
and one can only hope they help us
-
Anamika Gode Environmental lawyer
It can easily make you
wonder if our voices even matter.
When you look at the
situation on the ground, it is very apparent that the people of Goa do not
support a lot of what the government envisions for their collective futures.
With the elections still over a year away, there seems to be no
real leverage for citizens demanding better and more sustainable
governance. It can easily make you wonder if our voices even matter. By staging
consistent civil agitations, the people of Goa are getting
themselves heard. And the coverage of these events by Goa's
earnest media outlets has been extremely inspiring
-
Marc
Francis People Patterns, a social organisation that made a
path-break ing documentary on three environmentally ‘destructive’ projects
Govt needs to go
beyond attributing motives to people’s agitations
Every new project sees
objections from a few, I would urge the Government to see why this happens and
what the motives are beyond foreign funding and stalling progress in Goa.
The people who have lived in the state deserve a better life and
it is the duty of the state to provide it
-
Meenacshi Martins,
Activist &
Actress
The voice of opposition needs to be united
As of now it seems to me like a lot of different groups opposing
the developments but no there is no United voice so it’s easy for the
government to ignore them. Secondly are any of the groups actually looking at
alternative
-
Nupura
Hautamaki Online Marketer