THURSDAY, APRIL 25, 2024
Team Herald
panjim: The ‘Save Mollem Citizens’ Group’ ( SMCG) On Wednesday stressed on the need for deeper study and scrutiny of the proposed Goa Tanmar Power Transmission Project, running through the protected areas of the Bhagwan Mahavir Wildlife Sanctuary and Mollem National Park.
In a statement issued, SMCG demanded thatPower and Environment Minister Nilesh Cabral should provide the White Paper released on power consumption to the public, by putting it on the department’s official website so that the citizens decide whether the proposed project is truly for their benefit.
"There has to be more transparency when it comes to projects supposedly in public domain. Why is Cabral withholding information with regards to the transmission line? He promised to provide documents affiliated to the transmission line on his department website but it is still not in the public domain. We need to have access to this white paper so as stakeholders we also get to decide if this is truly for public benefit" conservationist Gabriella D'Cruz said.
The citizens’ group reacted sharply to the political statements being made in the media in the last one week, which claim that the number of trees to be felled by the proposed, power transmission line running through the two forest regions will be much lower than projected estimates.
Filmmaker and wildlife conservationist, Omkar Dharwadkar questioned, "One recent statement made by the Chief Minister Pramod Sawant where he mentions that less than 3,000 trees would be felled for the power line and that the trees will only be felled where the six poles will be erected in the protected area. How will all the machinery and equipment be taken to these locations of which many are only accessible by foot?"
According to the SMCG, a few weeks ago on September 21, scientists wrote to the Regional Office of the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests, requesting to urge the Empowered Committee to conduct a site-inspection and mandate cumulative impact assessments study.
Earlier this year, students in Goa had asked their MLAs to table questions in the state assembly about why the government was in a hurry to collaborate with Goa Tamnar, a Special Purpose Vehicle of Sterlite Power when this transmission line project was passed with no due process during the lockdown.
