Extending his full support to the people who have been battling against Coal Pollution in port town, the Parish Priest of St Andrew’s Church Fr Gabriel Coutinho, on Wednesday, urged the authorities concerned to keep human beings as the point of reference before giving any judgment on expansion plans of Mormugao Port Trust (MPT).
In his ten minutes long submission during on the ongoing public hearing for proposed expansion plans of MPT, Fr Gabriel Coutinho also stressed that it is the duty of the state government to respect the sentiments of people and to ensure that any project that is harmful should not be impose on citizens by force or by any other means.
“There is no doubt that for human habitation, all of us need clean and Green environment. Over the years, it has been seen that, all of us have been working for clean and green environment and the point of reference is that such clean and green environment is good for human habitation. This is exactly the motive behind Swachh Bharat Abhiyan initiated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. However, in Vasco nobody can say that there is no coal pollution. Like even at the St Andrew’s Church, we have been facing high coal dust pollution. Every morning we find dust collected over the benches inside the church hall as well as other areas inside the parish compound wall. Sadly during morning mass, when we put on the fans people start coughing and sneezing due to presence of coal dust inside the prayer hall, though the church hall gets cleaned every day,” he said.
“I also visit houses on regular basis and one of the things that I purposely ask people why they keep their windows closed. They all have one single answer that they do it, because there is dust coming in and they cannot keep windows open. If they (MPT) want, they can conduct a survey specifically to find out why all these houses in the neighbourhood are keeping their windows closed and they will get their answers whether they should go ahead with such project or not,” Coutinho said.
Fr Coutinho therefore requested the concerned authorities to take wise decision on MPT’s expansion plans and keep human beings as well as Gross Domestic human happiness as the point of reference.
“It is my humble request to the concerned authorities to give fair justice to the people and to see what is objectively correct, and take decision without any pressure as this will help the people of Goa to live in peaceful manner. Today we are not speaking about GDP but we are speaking about GDH, which Gross Domestic human happiness. The PM of India has been speaking about GDH and today we are fighting to get GDH which is injustice and we need to rethink on this,” he said.
He further added that “Also it is not the duty of MPT but the duty of the Goa government to take decision on such projects that are harmful to the people. Government of Goa can do it overnight, but if they are not interested, because they are hand in gloves with these corporate giants, then things will not only get delayed but people might also experience U Turns of the government as he himself has experienced.
He made an appeal to the people to refrain from accepting any bribe from coal companies. “Finally I want to tell the people that, I am there for my people and ready to give my life for my people. Tomorrow after this debate, money will start changing hands and whole movement will be jeopardised. I will ask all the NGOs and leaders present here, and also the top leaders of state, please do not accept money, if you need to take this movement forward for good reason, then let us take it forward till we get a conclusion,” he said.
Meanwhile speaking to Herald, Vasco based Catholic Priest Fr Advocate Micael A Fernandes said, “Thumbs up to fishermen of Vasco, simple citizens of the mother India and of the Golden Goa who showed the way of truth to the mighty Mormugao Port Trust bosses. The Government organ, namely Pollution Board, which is solely responsible to control pollution in and around Vasco and other affected suburbs and villages, due to its ulterior motives it did not initiate action to stop the coal handling at Harbour area and its transportation both by road and rail. The mighty MPT going to cause further destruction by deepening the channel the base of the river which was formed by natural forces during last million of years is going to be destroyed and what security it will provide that the land will not be washed away,” he questioned.
“Will the Government recover the loss from those responsible or from those who benefit from the channel being deepened? Or will the public exchequer bear the cost of the disaster caused?” he wondered.
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The debate ON ‘Battle for Vasco’
On March 16, 2016, Fr Gabriel Coutinho, along with few other prominent citizens of Vasco, have expressed similar views on high coal dust pollution during ‘Battle for Vasco’ debate organised jointly by Herald and HCN. During this debate, though there were several other important issues plaguing citizens of port town, however, the core focus of the debate was on coal pollution.
Parish Priest of St Andrew’s Church, Fr Gabriel Coutinho had said that “It is high time that we need to show people’s power to our leaders only then things can change”.
Jennifer Luis Kamat, a panelist for debate had accused GSPCB for not taking any serious efforts to ensure that pollution control measures are taken seriously by coal handling companies at MPT. “As per GSPCB’s own reply given on December 2015, the ambient air monitoring units installed at MPT were not working since last six months. This means that there was no check on coal pollution during this period. I feel that Vascokars have been fooled all the time by government, MPT or other agencies on the issue of coal pollution. This is unacceptable as the health is the biggest richness one can have,” she had said.
Environmentalist and social worker, Alka Damle had said that the major problem of coal pollution is also due to transportation of cargo through roads. If the four lane highway would have been completed then pollution would have automatically in control.
Sujay Gupta, the moderator for debate, had questioned the panelists as to whether the citizen’s reactions to the coal menace were strong enough or whether they had to move the court to seek justice.
On this businessmen Paresh Joshi, another member of panellist, informed that the citizens did approach the court and even won the case after which the coal operations were shifted to from berth number 10 and 11 of MPT. “If the coal pollution has to be controlled then there is need to have a strong political will. This coal was rejected by the three different ports and thus the same was forced on Goa. It is the political decision to bring the coal to MPT and it is political will that can take coal away from port,” he had mentioned.
Nazir Khan, a businessman from Vasco had accused the then state BJP leaders for fooling people by making false promise to make Vasco free of coal pollution once BJP comes to power in 2012 assembly elections. “If BJP had promised to stop the coal pollution then why the same was allowed at berth No 7 (Adani) and at 5 and 6 at MPT” he had questioned.
Vasco resident Savio Messias had stated that the coal handling by Mormugao Port Trust (MPT) cannot be stopped since the players involved are too big. “For last 20 years we have seen people making some moves to oppose coal pollution but they were ultimately silenced. Now we need to maintain basic cleanliness and air quality at least prevent dust pollution”.
Chairperson Deepak Naik too had raised his serious concern over coal pollution in port town and claimed that “even I feel that we all need to come united on this issue of coal pollution. MMC has already taken bold decision to stop transportation of coal from city roads. I now appeal to the people of port town to support us in our decision and we will stop coal transportations even if I have to defy government orders,” Deepak Naik had said.
