THURSDAY, APRIL 18, 2024
Team Herald
MARGAO: A group of 61 scientists and researchers have written to the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) asking them to scrap the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) study for the doubling of railway track in Bhagwan Mahaveer Wildlife Sanctuary and Mollem National Park.
Citing the economic, cultural, ecological, recreational and scientific significance of these protected areas, scientists argued that the terms of reference for the EIA laid out by the Railways are insufficient to assess the full extent of the impact expanding the railway track through the Western Ghats will have.
The letter also comes as an act of solidarity at the culmination of the people’s festival of the Amche Mollem exhibit ‘The Case of the Missing Species.
In turn, the letter in response to the new proposed EIA highlights how biodiverse ecosystems are responsible for crucial functions for life such as, clean air and water, pollination and wastewater treatment stating that an “Estimated 16,000 species of Bhagwan Mahavir Wildlife Sanctuary and Mollem National Park are currently providing several vital ecosystem services to the 1.82 million people of Goa. In September 2022, the Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd (RVNL) recruited the WII to conduct a new EIA just four months after the Supreme Court had cancelled the wildlife clearance for the double tracking project, where the senior counsel of the Central Empowered Committee stated that any further construction there would “invite a great disaster in sensitive areas of the Western Ghats.” The Supreme Court ruling in May 2022 had upheld the expert input from its CEC.
