This should come as no surprise, but your tacit assent to the controversial Coconut Tree bill has driven a stake through the heart of every right thinking, cogent and nature loving Goan.
I personally had paramount hope, that you, as an appointed Official of the President of India would see it fit to weigh the pros and cons of this bill before signing it. I had absolute faith that you would discern the corrupt motive that is commonplace in Goa’s political hierarchy.
I had unmitigated trust that you would decide what is best for the State and nature. I had supreme confidence in your integrity. I had unabated expectancy that as a woman and a respected Leader you would lend heart and ear to this cause-celebre that is putting Goa on the map for all the wrong reasons.
I believed firmly that your Gubernatorial authority would rise above the greedy lot who sell their souls for thirty pieces of silver. I never expected you to offer acquiescence to this acquisitive bunch who only think of their own interests and how best to line their pockets and their Swiss Bank Accounts while the going is good.
The world is looking at sustainability and every individual has a duty and a responsibility to conserve resources to help save our species for Generations to come. Please explain to me how this Bill will be a betterment for the State? When it is obvious that the ulterior motive is to allow impending beer factories and large dairy conglomerates to hack down the mighty Coconut Palm to clear the decks so that they can set up environment damaging factories?
The Coconut has long been an alluring feature of Goa’s coastline. The buck stops here and our once poetic description of “Sandy Beach Paradise dotted with swaying Palms” will be a thing of the past. History books will allude to this bill, that borders on the ridiculous and remind the world of the Palm fringed paradise that once was……. Geography text books will carry chapters on eroded coastlines that once beckoned the tourists of the world, and Social Studies will refer to a Coconut cuisine in the past tense.
Do you forever want to be remembered as the person who sounded the death knell for this glorious tree and/or the nature killer who parried the people who welcomed you to Raj Bhavan? Is it fair that toddy tappers, Coconut Farmers, Palm Feni brewers, Vinegar distillers and the refreshing taste of Coconut water and all the other coconut-based cuisine from curries to coccad will face extinction in due course?
It may be trivial to you and the mighty million-dollar conglomerates who intend to set up shop in spaces that currently house these marvels of nature……but to us Goans the Coconut was……..is….and hopefully will always be the bedrock of worship, the crux of our cuisine and the base ingredient of our daily sustenance.
Can we as a people coax you into revoking this assent? Can sanity be restored to the order of nature? Can the Government not interfere with Nature and allow coconut palms to remain TREES?
