PANJIM: As World Environment Day is being celebrated across the world, civil society groups in Goa came together highlighting the deplorable state of the environment in the State and demanded that the government oppose the reduction of the no development zone.
Concerned citizens cited rampant destruction of the environment due to hill cutting, filling of low-lying areas, etc in the name of development and alleged that the government was allowing the activities.
“The government has given a blanket permission to cut these hills and plateaus and even flatten them thus puncturing and destroying our natural aquifers. The Environment Department has not even done a survey of such destructions along the highway or across the State to assess the level of damage and plan mitigation measures. You are aware that with these landscapes, the wildlife and forests are under stress. Wild animals and reptiles are entering settlement areas. We are losing nature’s gift of abundant rich biodiversity, our ground water table is diminishing,” states a comprehensive memorandum submitted to the Chief Secretary, Secretary for Environment and Director of Environment on Monday, the eve of Environment Day.
The joint memorandum by Avinash Tavares of United Goans Foundation, Judith Almeida of Colva Civic and Consumer Forum, Iris Passanha of Cavelossim Villagers Forum, Roshan Mathias of Goenchi Mogi and Viresh Borkar of Revolutionary Goans; also slammed the Forest and Environment departments for not taking measures to map the existing trees in private forests or install surveillance, patrolling or any other enforcement measures to ensure the environment is protected.
The groups requested the government to ‘aggressively oppose’ the proposed reducing of the No Development Zone in the CRZ from 200 mtrs to 50 mtrs. The groups also brought to the notice of the government the weekend destruction wherein most illegalities and violations occur from Friday afternoon till Sunday night. During this period, the memorandum states, officials do not entertain complaints leading to massive illegalities.
