TEAM HERALD
MARGAO: Making a humble plea to politicians not to divide Goans on North and South basis on the airport issue, Goans for Dabolim Only (GFDO) on Saturday vowed to take the fight against proposed Mopa airport to its logical conclusion by dragging the Goa government to the court.
While the meeting resolved to demand postponement of Sunday’s Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) hearing at Pernem, GFDO Convenor Fr Eremito Rebelo, however, said the executive committee headed by him will participate in the EIA hearing. He made it clear that GFDO will not mobilise people for Sunday’s hearing, saying he doesn’t want any confrontation between the people of North and South Goa on the issue.
Politicians, including Congress MLA Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco, Independent MLA Vijai Sardesai and former PWD minister Churchill Alemao attended the GFDO meeting at the Lohia Maidan and offered their support to the anti-Mopa movement.
Addressing the public meeting, Fr Eremito made an appeal to the people with folded hands not to allow themselves to be divided by politicians. “We are all Goans. I do not want Goa to be divided. But, we will fight it out till the end. We are bracing to go to the court to challenge the EIA report,” he said.
Fr Eremito gave a call to Environment Minister, Alina Saldanha to speak out her mind on the EIA report, terming it as a bundle of lies. “We demand that Alina speak out on the EIA report. Show your power that you are fighting for Goa. The Goa State Pollution Control Board and the Bio-Diversity Board should also speak out on the lies and falsehoods in the EIA report,” he said.
Clarifying that the ongoing airport movement is not a Christian movement but a fight for the truth, Fr Eremito said the present government is worse than the previous one, saying the BJP government will never support the poor and the downtrodden. “Mopa will be scrapped one day. God will help our movement. St Joseph Vaz was a revolutionary and God made him a saint,” he said.
Addressing the gathering from the audience, Independent MLA Vijai Sardesai said the BJP government is pursuing Mopa just to satisfy the ego of ex-CM Manohar Parrikar. He warned that people of South Goa will not sit quite if BJP politicians are mobilising people of North Goa to attend the EIA hearing. “We will have to come on the streets and fight it out and even stop movement of petroleum products,” he said.
Congress MLA Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco said the Congress has taken a stand against the Mopa airport and the party will abide by its decision. “We all have to stand up and fight for Dabolim,” he said.
Former PWD minister Churchill Alemao told the gathering that Mopa can be scrapped only if the people come out on the streets and say no to the second airport.
Activist Ramesh Gawas said the EIA report is full of lies and falsehoods and warned that Mopa will destroy Pernem. “The EIA report is contempt of High Court order. The people are free to lodge criminal complaints against the government,” he said.
Rajendra Kakodkar said the government is bulldozing with the airport by ignoring environmental studies carried out in a scientific manner. “Mopa is a scam. While the project will cost only Rs 3,000 crore, the real estate is pegged at around Rs 33,000 crore,” he added.
Sidharth Karapurkar exposed the lies and falsehoods in the EIA report when the report speaks about Bengal fox in and around the Mopa plateau.
Zarina Da Cunha and Celso Fernandes also spoke.
