On the day that Goans for Dabolim Only (GFDO) announced that they would be challenging the government in court on issues concerning the Mopa airport project, the Union minister for Environment and Forests, Prakash Javadekar, said that when the Mopa airport proposal comes to his ministry permission will be granted. The Union minister qualified his statement by saying that the Centre is very positive on any development in States and that it would ensure sustainable development. He also took a dig at the previous UPA government saying that the ministry he now has charge of was ‘an impediment to economic development’ in the earlier government but now there was ‘an ease in doing business and more importantly responsible business’.
Responsible business is definitely welcome, but real responsibility will come when the government takes into account the fears and concerns of the people when it approves projects and other industry needs. And the fears and concerns connected with the Mopa airport are many. There are environmental concerns raised, economic matters debated and sustainability of the airport questioned. None of these have been responsibly addressed till date. Perhaps, now that we have a Union government that promises responsible business, all these can be answered.
There is now no doubt that the Union government will respond positively to any proposal from the State on the Mopa project. But, then is the Centre aware of the resistance to the airport in Goa or how the State is pushing the airport project without all the facts at its disposal or a proper study of the land on which the airport is likely to come?
For, even as the Union minister made that statement in Panjim, a few kilometers away, in Margao, GFDO was pointing out that they have received replies to queries filed under the Right To Information Act that the local government has ‘no record of a study conducted with respect to Mopa plateau’ and they charged the government with bulldozing the airport project without an inkling of the ‘ramifications on this biodiversity hotspot’. It is a charge that stands, because if there is no study of the biodiversity on the land on which the airport is coming up, how has the government responded to questions on the land when seeking permissions and environment clearances for the project? Besides, Herald had reported just two days prior to this statement of the Union minister how the government had provided vague responses to the Expert Appraisal Committee on queries raised by Rainbow Warriors, Margao.
The Mopa plateau is not a barren piece of land as the government would have the people and the centre believe it to be. It has a rich bio-diversity whose protection is essential for the Western Ghats as well as for the State of Goa and it cannot be treated as cursorily as the government is treating it.
Javadekar and his ministry need to listen to the concerns and issues raised by the people, rather than focus only on the replies of the government. The question of clearance for the Mopa airport cannot be solely taken as a development need. There has to be a balance struck between development and environment protection, and here is where the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) plays a big role. Javadekar’s MoEF, while being positive to development, has a bigger role to play in being guardian of the nation’s environment. That is its mandate, and protecting the environment does not mean that it is an ‘impediment to economic development’ as the minster alleged the ministry to be in the previous dispensation. Development is necessary but not at the cost of the environment. The people depend on the MoEF to be the final gatekeeper of the environment of the country. And the ministry cannot let them down.
