Team Herald
PANJIM: An NGO has approached the High Court of Bombay at Goa in connection with rampant tree cutting in the State. The bench, while accepting the plea has issued notices to all the relevant authorities across North and South Goa seeking status report and statistics of the pending tree felling applications.
The notices are returnable by April 28. As per a press statement, the Goa government has to answer whether the tree authority is functional at all. “Is it functioning or not functioning? Is it functioning at all?” the release quotes the division bench of Justice M S Sonak and Justice M S Jawalkar.
The State is already facing a barrage of questions and apprehensions over rampant cutting of trees. In addition to this, more than 1.30 lakh tree cutting planned for the controversial linear project has also irked several quarters.
NGO Goa Foundation, in the recent past had released documents to show that the actual extent of trees needed for the project from Narendra in Karnataka to Xeldem in Goa is 1,31,082 trees, further adding that most these trees fall within the biodiversity-rich Western Ghats region and its ESAs (Eco Sensitive Areas). The NGO also said that the project requirement for the Karnataka side is 62,289 trees, whereas in Goa, it is 68,793 and 2,849 trees have already been felled in Sangod village. The government has come under criticism for granting permission for the projects that could spell a doom for the environment of Goa.
