The organisation has questioned the stoic silence of Environment Minister Alina Saldanha, the GSPCB and Bio-diversity Board on the EIA report.
Convenor Fr Eremito Rebello told media that he would make GFDO’s stand clear on participation in the public hearing at the meeting. He further said politicos will be allowed to address the meeting, but they will not be allowed to share GFDO dais.
The GFDO also demanded to know how the EIA report was prepared in 2011 when outgoing chief minister, Manohar Parrikar had repeatedly told the people of Goa that the EIA would be done before the construction of the airport.
Fr Eremito called upon the people of Goa to turn out in large numbers for the public meeting on January 31 to send a strong message to the government that Goans can no longer be taken for granted and that they will stand up to protect the environment and ecology of their homeland.
GFDO member Rajendra Kakodkar warned the people not to get fooled by the State government’s ruse of holding a public hearing on the EIA prepared by Engineers India Ltd. “This EIA in fact, shows the contempt in which this government holds the ecology of Goa in particular and the people of Goa in general. Although the report states that data on biological study has been obtained from secondary sources like published literature, interestingly, it has for obvious reasons failed to mention the sources/references to authenticate its data”, he said.
He said the government should have shown some seriousness in using up-to-date and recent data as the basis for the EIA rather than relying on outdated and perhaps irrelevant records collected way back in 2011. “Before announcing a public hearing, it was the government’s duty to scan the EIA and check its scientific basis and validity through its environmental bodies like Goa State Pollution Control Board, Biodiversity Board etc.
