Team Herald
PANJIM: The State Wild Life Board, which is under the overall supervision and governance of the Forest Minister, surrendered to the those fastpacking the railway double-tracking project from 2016 to 2019 and recommended clearing the environmentally damaging double-tracking project through the biodiversity hotspot of the Mollem Wildlife Sanctuary and National Park in the Western Ghats.
We explain exactly how this was done. Now with an intelligent minister like Vishwajit Rane as Forest Minister the recommendation from the State Wildlife Board to clear such an environmentally damaging project will not go and will make it impossible for the National Wild Life Board to clear this project.
If such projects are stopped at the State level, the NGOs and people will not have to go to court, these issues will be settled for the good of Goa by the State itself.
Let us look at the journey of how the double-tracking project was fast tracked
2013: Of the 3 infrastructure projects through the Mollem protected area, the railway doubling project was first wholesale rejected by Chief Wildlife Warden (Richard de Souza) and by the Government of Manohar Parrikar in 2013.
Oct 12, 2016: Brought before the State Wildlife Advisory Board, but members raised several queries.
Dec 16 2017: At a meeting of the State Wildlife Advisory Board at its meeting, railways procured an EIA report from the Indian Institute of Science. But there was a lot of opposition still from members in clearing the double tracking project and deferred the matter without any approval.
The State Government dissolved the Board, removed the dissenting members, and brought in fresh faces.
Dec 2, 2019: The Chief Wildlife Warden of the State (Santosh Kumar), without any discussion and approval by resolution actually presented the project (and two other projects including the NH expansion and the Tamnar project) to the members.
It later transpired that, without any discussion and alleged manipulation of the minutes of the meeting, the “approval” of the State Board, had been sent to the Environment Ministry to be placed before the standing committee of the National Board of Wild Life.
The non-official members of the Board protested in writing that they had never approved the project. Their objections were simply ignored. It is important to note that the members of the Board made a special effort to contact the CEC during its visit to Mormugao Port Trust.
Dec 17 2019: The railway doubling project was placed before the SC/NBWL.
