PANJIM: Anti-Mopa airport crusaders – Goans for Dabolim Only – have gone hammer and tongs against the political party which has forced ‘unwanted projects’ on Goans, by making this a Zilla Panchayat polls issue in South Goa, by calling on people to teach that party a lesson.
Without naming the party, GFDO convener Fr Eremito Rebello told media in Panjim on Monday, “We have appealed to the people to vote against the party that is responsible for bringing in many unwanted projects, despite people’s opposition to them. That party needs to be taught a lesson during the coming ZP elections.”
Fr Rebello said that the ZP election is an opportunity for the people to raise their voice against the party, which is fooling people for the past three years.
GFDO has also threatened to intensify their protest on the lines of the Anna Hazare agitation, if their demands are not looked into, within the next seven days.
Rebello was speaking to media after meeting GSPCB Chairman Jose Manuel Noronha, with a demand to scrap the public hearing conducted on the environment impact assessment report of Greenfield International Airport Mopa, considering that the hearing was conducted after expiry of Term of References (ToR) of the project, issued by the MoEF.
The representation made before the GSPCB reads that the ToR, granted in 2011, with further extension of one year in 2013, expired on June 1, 2014, while the EIA study by Engineers India Limited was completed in October 2014 and the public hearing on EIA was held on February 1, 2015.
“The pollution control board has to also ensure that hearings are held within the validity period of the ToRs and that no hearings are held after the validity period is over,” the representation reads.
Replying to the demand, Noronha informed the delegation that the fact that the hearing was conducted post expiry of ToR period has been brought to the notice of MoEF for further decision. He also made it clear that the Board has not granted any consent for construction or development of the proposed International Greenfield Airport at Mopa.
