VASCO: The Congress which made its opposition to the handling of coal, especially by companies owned/ controlled by giants like the Adanis and Jindals, now has its Vice President Sankalp Amonkar, who is the new
MLA of Mormugao saying “ I will never object to coal”,even though he qualified this by saying that he was against pollution and would be against it and even “warn the big companies to ensure that the transportation of coal was pollution-free”. But this is a far cry from Congress and as well a
Amonkar’s own
stand that “future generations will never forgive us” of Goa becomes a coal
hub. He said this, in an interview with a local channel during the peak of the
people’s movement against double-tracking and the other linear projects, we
will become selfish by taking jobs in MPT. We will earn something there, but
our children will
never forgive
us. (if coal transportation through MPT destroys Goa. He added that “We must
protect our future
generation
from double tracking with double the
coal transportation. Even our present generating (we are in our the forties now)
is getting destroyed”. Now immediately after getting elected as the MLA, in an
interview to Mormugao cable network he said, “In our manifesto,we opposed coal,
but we discussed it in the party, that there are workers in MPT, they depend on
the business MPT gets, so I will never object coal. However, I’m against coal
pollution and
bad handling. I won’t allow transportation of trucks with coal through the Port
town. He also said he warns the big coal companies not to transport coal
without safety measures in place like proper “dome-shaped” coverage of wagons
and other transport to avoid spillage.
People
of Vasco will ask if you allow coal handling through doubled tracks, can you
ever stop pollution
It is
important to see the U-turn in sentiment.The earlier sentiment was that even if
a few people found jobs at MPT (and the port depended on the coal business to
be profitable and thus secure jobs), you are putting future generations at risk
of destruction Any kind of coal handling was rejected, simply because it does
not help Goa in any way. After getting elected the Vice President of the
Congress went to the extent of saying “I will never object to coal” because
jobs in MPT need to be protected. This is the Uturn because the talk of
controlling pollution cannot be taken seriously unless coal handling through
MPT is stopped altogether. Goans have seen that MPT has failed
to even
reduce pollution today when future huge quantitates are not yet transported. The
Congress has denied ever facilitating the coal business in Goa it was during
the Congress’ tenure that the Goa Pollution Control Board gave a green signal
for the coal handling operations on berths where the coal giants were receiving
their coal from the ships. With no string leadership or political parentage,
Congress leaders are making statements that are not pro-people. Anyone who
supports coal handling cannot talk of controlling pollution. One will lead to
the other and future Goans do not deserve this.
