If you threw a small pebble and it landed near the feet of any person and you asked him what were the three big issues the taluka was grappling with , pat would come the answer- Coal pollution, River Nationalisation and Fishing jetty.
On the coal front it is only because of the public outcry the Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) withdrew the consent grated to South West Port limited to handle coal at berth number 5A and 6A. This can only be linked to public pressure since GSPCB had data concerning coal handling way back in 2012.
It is clear though that there are different factors at play, with some actually working towards keeping the big coal handling giants at play. The state government is clear that the expansion plans of SWPL need to be on hold. At the same time, the Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) of the Ministry of Environment and Forests recommended that the proposal be given an environmental and CRZ clearance.
“The Government took two steps forward, one step backward and there has been no change on all three big ticket issues except for some action taken by Pollution control board on coal handling, that too after public outcry. In fact the public hearing on coal has proven to be a catalyst to bring public outcry to the fore,” said Vasco based environmental activist Advocate Savio J F Correia.
Let’s look at how the three big ticket issues panned out during year 1 of the Parrikar led government
Subhead-1 – Public hearing on MPT’s expansion plans was a fertile ground of camaraderie for various green activities
The eight day long public hearing from April 26 to May 5 2017 for all three expansion projects by MPT acted as a fertile ground of camaraderie for various green activities as those 82 hours of public hearing connected likeminded people. This was for the first time in the history of Goa that people not only from the project affected area but from across Goa attended the public hearing. They came together on an issue which was basically a local issue (coal pollution) of the port town but realizing that this local issue would also effect whole of Goa, the speakers made in-depth study with each one had different information to point out and expose flaws and misappropriation done in the project report presented by the project proponent.
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River Nationalization / Dredging
The main component of River Nationalization is dredging and hence both are interconnected. Those fighting against River Nationalisation forcefully allege that with this nationalization of six Goan rivers there is a plan to use the rivers for commercial shipping which will involve dredging the river beds.
Meanwhile, the traditional Fishermen community from Vasco and surrounding areas besides Goa Against Coal (GAC) had held several press conferences and token protest in last one year opposing the proposal citing different reasons. Traditional fishermen still claim that the related excessive dredging of rivers would convert Goa into fishless state, leaving them to suffer. Anti coal activists claims that nationalized rivers in Goa would then only cater to shipping of coal, instead of transporting passengers, and in convert Goa into a coal hub.
