Team Herald
PANJIM: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Saturday welcomed the National Green Tribunal’s (NGT) order to halt the construction of the Captain of Ports terminal building on the banks of River Mandovi.
AAP vice-president Valmiki Naik was one of the complainants in the case, along with late activist Joe D’Souza.
“NGT order is a new hope for common people that they have the power to thwart the continuous attempts to destroy Goa’s environment with destructive projects,” Naik said. Naik said that the NGT’s order is only a partial victory as only a two-month stay has been granted to allow the project proponent to carry out a Rapid Environmental Impact Assessment and comply with the regulations.
“Our plea, to completely demolish the construction and restore the environmentally sensitive inter-tidal area to its original condition, has not been met yet. If this building goes through, it will become a precedent and such illegal and destructive constructions within coastal areas will occur everywhere in Panjim and Goa,” he said.
