MONDAY, APRIL 29, 2024
From mangroves, fishing nets and canoes along the coast to industrial sheds in the midland and forests in the hinterland, it has been raining fires in Goa since the beginning of 2023.
There have been several incidents of mysterious fires causing enormous loss of private property, biodiversity and livelihoods. The infernos at the Pilerne industrial estate and the latest fires in reserved forests at various locations have sufficiently exposed the inadequacies in Goa’s fire prevention and disaster management. Fortunately, the fires were brought under control without any loss of lives or serious injuries to anyone. The fire fighters deserve applause for their sacrifices despite the limitations and complexity of situations. Unfortunately, the official version on the cause of fires cannot be taken at face value from a government which appears to suffer from verbal diarrhoea and dodges the public by twisting facts and denying timely information.
The excuse of global warming and abnormal weather conditions provides the perfect ‘purdah’ (curtain) for corrupt politics and a predatory industry to further their destructive development and plunder Goa. We need to bear in mind that India’s rate of deforestation is the second highest in the world, with around 668,400 ha of forests lost in 30 years, according to the recent UK-based Utility Bidder’s report. Citizens familiar with illegal real estate operations in Goa can understand how legitimate opportunities are created by the government to give a free-hand to anti-social activity when deals are settled. When cornered, excuses are manufactured to cover up the illegalities and violations. Inquiry committees are appointed to probe into the incidents to quell the public outcry, but reports of such investigations hardly arrive at any definite conclusions. Considering that institutions of expertise in the country are now like ‘caged parrots’, findings in reports are more than often tailored to fit the tastes of the political establishment, more like the Environmental Impact Assessments for construction projects. This has resulted in a serious ‘trust deficit’ between government and the public leading to doubts and suspicions.
With land for construction shrinking along the coast, the forest cover in the midland and hinterland becomes the obvious target of the greedy political class and real estate vultures. The India State of Forest Report (ISFR) 2021 shows Goa’s forest cover of 1,272 sq. kms, but refrains from generating information about the taluka-wise forest distribution. Interestingly, there are no records about forest encroachments. This is enough of a clue to what remains hidden, because truth is said to be in the details. It is important to know how many talukas of Goa enjoy forest cover and whether the forest corridors are intact. The Regional Plan 2021 was claimed to be showing no forest cover in Bardez taluka. Hiding behind percentages by showing a 34.33% forest cover is not the whole truth.
When MLAs known to have a conflict of interest in real estate, mining and tourism are at the helm of governance, it is extremely necessary to first rule out the involvement of human hands behind the forest fires. The conspiracy angle just cannot be ruled out by fallacious reasoning of the government and its ‘godi’ media which assumes no proof to be the absence of conspiracy. Real estate related pyro-terrorism to harass and vacate tenants or render lands barren and unproductive to secure land conversion for construction is nothing new in Goa. In such an anti-social environment, there is enough reason for the public to point the needle of suspicion to an organised human intervention behind the fires.
Just a couple of months ago, the Union Government had issued a draft notification which sought to declare 1461 sq kms covering around 99 villages as eco-sensitive zones. Politicians in the affected constituencies were the first to scream foul. The resistance to a Tiger reserve within Goa from the real estate and mining lobby is also well known. The outbreak of these fires also coincides with the exercise of mass geo-tagging of trees and verification of private forests that is currently in progress. One just cannot ignore the fact that vast tracts of forest and horticulture lands across Goa, which are blocked as ‘No Development Zones’ under the Regional Plan and ODPs, have been purchased from desperate property owners at throw away prices by politicians and real estate sharks from Goa and around the country.
The recent amendment to the Goa TCP Act, giving powers to rectify errors in the Regional Plan at any time, provides ample scope for such play with fire. With the commissioning of the new Mopa airport in North Goa, the agricultural lands and forests in and around become vulnerable to real estate terrorism in the race for creating new townships to rake in huge profits. Along with this Mopa scourge is the thrust from politicians to develop tourism in and around Sattari taluka with an excuse of generating local employment. The rampant corruption in Goa’s planning and development laws and systems have provided enough loopholes to encourage illegalities and compromises in mega construction projects.
As Goa gets torn apart and burnt down with rapid fire development, the fire simply fails to ignite in the belly of Goans to throw up a collective social and political resistance. Just like with any other issue in the past, the troubling memories of this hot summer’s mysterious and devastating fires will soon be washed away with the arrival of the monsoon rains. Goans can be expected to continue celebrating feasts and partying till the last tree falls, the rivers turn to sewers and not an inch of vacant land remains for future generations. This is how abuse, violence and an overdose of social entertainment from smart politics makes citizens dumb and shameless.
(The author is a
Social Activist)
