PANJIM: The Aam Aadmi Party on Tuesday said that the environment had become a casualty and was continuing to face one of the biggest threats ever from the present government.
Stating that the Forest department and it’s IFS officer Kuldip Sharma were all out to deceive the people of Goa by suppressing information about the vegetation cover on the Mopa plateau, AAP leader on environment Sidharth Karapurkar said that this same Kuldeep Sharma had signed the order to cut 54676 trees on Mopa plateau even as the Goa government has been telling the public through their study reports and other submissions that the Mopa plateau was barren land having sparse trees, being rocky and shrubby terrain.
“If that be the case, then how is that 54676 trees are located just in the vicinity of the proposed runway alone?” questioned Karapurkar.
He said that these lies are getting nailed and the actual number of trees which they would be cutting later would be in lakhs and hence a need arises for a fresh EIA report as earlier this information of existence of these trees was suppressed.
He further added that the government has been acting hostile to the serene environment of Goa to serve the interests of their ‘moneybags’ friends.
Introducing a new law by innocuously redefining trees as being those with girth size above 10 cms (diameter) and height of above 1 metre as against 5 cms and 1 foot height existing earlier, he said that it is an ill conceived plan to destroy forests as the trees which have girth size less than that specified, will no more be categorised as trees making room for mass cutting of trees in the State in future.
Karapurkar said that the AAP Government in Delhi has opposed cutting of 17000 trees and said that the government in Goa should realise that it had no right to cut trees under lies and deceit as the people require the trees to lead a healthy life and secure the future of generations to come. Calling the airport at Mopa a scam of the century, Karapurkar said that the false ‘Goycarponn’ government should introduce a chapter in the environmental studies at school about the duplicity of those in power who are serving interests of crony capitalists while causing damage to the common man’s interest.
Meanwhile, AAP also condemned the repeated physical assaults on Surendra Gawade at the Sonshi mines and said that the common man will continue to suffer at the hands of the government which was all out to serve capitalist friends and appealed to the people to realise how their vote to the dishonest was causing such unmitigated suffering.
