Team Herald
MARGAO: Pointing out serious anomalies in the responses given by the State government, Goans For Dabolim Only (GFDO) will challenge in court the government’s actions towards construction of the proposed Mopa airport.
In a response to an RTI filed by GFDO, the Goa State Biodiversity Board stated that it does not have any record of a study conducted with respect to Mopa plateau.
“On what basis has the government given responses when there has not been any study done. There is no biodiversity report of the area as per the responses we received under RTI,” GFDO convenor Fr Eremito Rebello said.
They said that the government is attempting to bulldoze a project like the airport, without any idea of its ramifications on this biodiversity hotspot.
GFDO pointed out that the government maintains through funds from the public exchequer a number of environment expert bodies like Goa State Biodiversity Board and the Goa State Pollution Control Board that have failed to conduct the mandatory study of the biodiversity and the eco-sensitive nature of Mopa plateau.
GFDO member Sidharth Karapurkar pointed out that portions of Maharashtra were left out of the environment study and the same had to be done to give a complete picture.
“R C Khurana, Ex-AAI Director and Chairman of the Site Selection Committee for Mopa, has gone on record to say that ‘Mopa is unsafe and inadequate as a location in Goa’s future interest from an aviation point of view’. What is it then that is driving the Goa government to jeopardize and endanger not only Goa’s environmental security, but also the safety of air travellers by foisting an airport project against the stated opinions of environmental as well as aviation experts? asked Fr Eremito.
The conservation of the Mopa plateau is necessary to maintain the quality, diversity and minimum spatial extent of the Western Ghats essential for its survival and for the environmental security of Goa,” he added.
GFDO condemned the arrogant attitude of the Laxmikant Parsekar government as seen by its ‘shoddy, shallow and misleading replies to questions’ raised by the Federation of Rainbow Warriors (FRW) with the Expert Appraisal Committee of the MoEF that is looking into granting EC for the Mopa Airport.
In the same manner as the government’s so-called “public hearing” of the EIA in February, once again the Parsekar government is seeking to validate a ‘flimsy, shockingly slipshod, contradictory and outdated document done way back in 2011, in an obvious attempt at empty tokenism which is not acceptable to the people of Goa’.
“It is unfortunate that the BJP government appears to consider the electoral mandate given to it by the people of Goa as carte blanche to bulldoze all projects whether it is Mopa, marinas, Tiracol or Carmona, without considering the environmental and social impact on the State and its people. Most worrying of all, is the government’s arbitrary and lackadaisical manner of functioning, and its conviction of unaccountability to the people who have voted it to power,” said Fr Eremito.
