All the actions by the government have the signs of a case where the Centre and the State and the company are resorting to environmental State sponsored terrorism in Mopa. The peasants of Mopa have been given a measly compensation of Rs 300 per square metre of land when the actual market value of land is at least Rs 4,000 to Rs 6,000 per square metre. It is an institutionalised loot by the government against the poor peasants of Mopa who have told this writer that they have never seen big money in their lives.
The company is going to benefit a lot from this institutionalised looting that has deliberately disallowed the displaced peasants from even uprising against this draconian project and all sorts of opposition has been curtailed, a humans rights abuse as also the Mopa airport has been shrouded under the Officials Secrets Act so as to deprive even journalists from conduction a prudent assessment of the ground realities there.
The 14 houses that have been built for the displaced Dhangar families had their ceilings and wall plaster disintegrating after a few days of the displaced peasants being given the keys, forcing them to go back to their cowsheds for shelter. All environmental norms have been thrown out of the door by the unscrupulous State sponsors of the project; 54,676 trees, mostly adult ones, are facing the axe because of the greed of the Centre and the State governments as well as the company to deceive the people through subterfuge and sleight of hand.
The Supreme Court directive to transplant all the 54,676 trees will never be implemented.
The Mopa plateau is a fertile plateau with diverse and exotic flora and fauna which is sought to be destroyed once and for all. Forty-six natural springs are going to be destroyed which are clear and crystal sources of potable medicinal water, when despite at least 100 inches of rainfall, Goa does not have adequate potable water for its citizens.
Why this institutionalised loot of the poor peasants for the greed of a few politicians and businessmen? The silent clamour of the displaced peasants will haunt each and every transgressor of their land for every single moment of their lives.
When fruit of the land and work of human hands fill the stomachs of the poor peasants, why do we want to see flying metals contraptions destroy their daily bread?
Never in the history of Goa, have so many trees been facing the axe in order to cater to a single project which is being opposed in the Supreme Court of India by the Federation of Rainbow Warriors, who are battling against all odds to save this extension of the Western Ghats and the United Nations designated protected zone.
