There’s been an absolute silence from the government and the Opposition to the news reports that Goa could see a repeat of the Kerala floods. Ecologist’s Madhav Gadgil’s warning that Goa is next after Kerala, that was reported in Herald and then across the nation by the print and electronic media, has not drawn even a single comment from the powers that be in the State. There’s been nothing even negating what Gadgil and other environmentalists have said. This calm from the political establishment could well be a precursor to the storm that the green lobby is warning about, and that’s one storm that Goa cannot allow to happen as this could destroy the State.
Across the country people are debating whether Goa will suffer as Kerala did. Over the past few days, much has already been written about the warnings. The question is what should Goa do now? Obviously the people who matter – the politicians who otherwise have much to say and who will be taking the decisions – are reluctant to take a stand on this issue. There is now evidence of what the ravaging of nature can do to a land. If the politicians admit that, then they have to ensure that the natural environs of Goa are not tampered with. With what has happened in Kerala, they cannot dismiss the warnings. So the alternative they see is to remain quiet and let the storm pass, and in the meanwhile divert attention by announcing donations to the Kerala work.
Goa does not need to know how pained the ministers and the MLAs are by the tragedy in Kerala and that they are donating a month’s salary to the relief works. Goans also don’t need to know how many boxes of relief material have been collected by political parties to be sent to Kerala. It’s good if they do so, the southern State needs all the help it can get, but there is no need to publicise this. What Goa wants to know is what the decision makers in the State are going to do to ensure that there is no repeat of the Kerala floods in Goa.
The Kerala floods are a manmade disaster, brought about by ignoring the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel report that was denounced as anti-development. Goa too has ignored this report and that’s where the fear of a repeat in the State stems from. For decades people in the State have been battling to protect the ecology from being destroyed but have been met by a wall. That wall has to be now demolished, and the fight to protect Goa has to a united one. If the politicians of Goa can unite to restart mining, can they also unite to save Goa from a disaster?
While doing so, the urgency in restarting mining operations in the State should be reviewed, as should the short-term gains of mining versus the long-term losses of the environment that are an invitation to disaster must now be studied. The common excuse of government staff, when confronted with a query they don’t want to answer, that a file is lost cannot be used here, as the report is in public domain. It is now time to extract the report of the Western Ghats Ecology Experts Panel (WGEEP) from the recesses of government filing system, blow the dust off it, study it and implement it. Let not the Kerala floods turn out to be just a warning that goes unheeded. Let it be a lesson learnt so that Goa does not suffer the way Kerala is at the moment.
