Team Herald
MARGAO: A cross-section of society has raised eyebrows over the statements by Dr Vinod Kumar, the new Chairman of the Mormugao Port Authority (MPA) on how the Mormugao Port will aim at increasing its cargo handling while minimising the impact on the environment at the same time.
The consensus was that these statements are just to placate public opinion in a State where there is widespread opposition to coal cargo and transport and that these statements are impractical and such assurances will not materialise.
“The new MPA chairman’s statement is the joke of the year and has no meaning. He should first do a ground study and visit the houses of people who are eating and breathing coal every day before making baseless statements. When MPA has been given permission to increase its coal handling capacity by 4-5 million tonnes, its chairman is talking about not harming the environment. Goa is already being harmed due to hazardous cargo being handled at MPA like coal, bauxite etc. The Environment Ministry needs to address this,” said Xencor Polgi, Vasco-based anti-coal activist
“The chairman’s higher-ups i.e. the politicians and bureaucrats are the ones behind these plans to try and confuse the public by giving them such lollipops. The Chairman should first see how the double tracking project that people are fighting against is not suitable for Goa and is only meant for making the State into a coal hub. For double tracking to happen, they will cut the Western Ghats and have already destroyed our trees and water bodies. MPA is even targeting the beaches where fishermen earn their livelihood,” said Polgi.
“It is clear that the new MVA chairman has not made any ground study before making statements of expanding the port’s cargo operations without harming the environment. That suggestion is not possible. First, he has to see how the existing cargo operations have caused pollution and have violated all environmental norms. Besides coal, there is bauxite ore and limestone. The port is also close to houses and the Chairman should see how they have been impacted by the port’s operations and cargo transport in the State,” said Parshuram Sonurlekar, another activist from Vasco.
“The MPA Chairman is going completely against the government policy and wishes of Goa and Goans. In the past, the Parliamentary Standing Committee’s report No. 269 that was presented and approved in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, clearly recommends that MPA should become a passenger and cruise port and all this else should be closed. Our stand is that we won’t allow this (enhanced cargo like coal handling) and that people are supreme and will oppose what is not right for them,” said Abhijit Prabhudesai, Co-convenor of Goyant Kollso Naka (GKN).
“I believe that Dr Vinod Kumar is a former postmaster general. I feel there could not be a better choice as MPA chairman because nowadays the position has been reduced to that of a postman communicating the decisions of the Central government for implementation at MPA. Every MPA chairman makes or gives such assurances, but have miserably failed to keep them. MPA needs to change its business model from handling dusty and polluted cargo to green cargo,” said Sherwyn Correia, who had spoken at the public hearing opposing the enhanced handling of coal at MPA.
“Goencho Ekvott (GE) welcomes the MPA Chairman’s statement about pushing for green cargo. Here we want to reiterate our stand that the cargo that is currently being brought into Goa as far from Australia, Indonesia, Mozambique is all dirty cargo, like coal, limestone and other raw products. We fail to understand why finished products, which are manufactured at the Verna and Corlim Industrial Estates, like pharmaceutical products that form about 10% of Goa’s GDP, are not exported through our port. Instead, they are exported through Nhava Sheva Port in Maharashtra, which is about 700-800 kms away from these plants,” said GE Founder, Orville Dourado Rodrigues.
“When we had asked MPA about this, they said they don’t have adequate cranes to haul up those refrigerated cargo. If these products are exported through our national harbour at Mormugao, then it will be an all-round benefit to the industry, the port itself and possibly they could hire a larger Goan workforce. So, I request Dr Vinod Kumar to please introspect and find a solution as importing coal through MPA is not the answer for Goa,” said Rodrigues.
“This port had tremendous potential for developing into a profitable entity that could have spearheaded Goa’s green economy. However, over the years, its policies have reduced it to the level of a loss-making enterprise eking out a living by handling polluting cargo. Given its past track record, it is highly unlikely that the people of Goa will take the new Chairman’s lofty statements seriously. After all, a trust deficit created over decades cannot be bridged by meaningless platitudes,” said the Amchem Mollem Citizen group.
“This is standard bureaucratic practice where you first send someone to thrash people around and then send in a new person with a conciliatory approach. These officers are posted with a briefing. Now here there are issues of coal, railway expansion etc. So, after transferring the previous fellow, they send someone new who will say he understands the difficulties faced by the public. This sort of thing his successor will say to pacify the people. But in reality, no one really ensures anything. Look at Goa’s experience with past assurances,” said Advocate Radharao Gracias
“Look at what is happening with Smart City in Panjim. So, what they say and deliver is something else. What he said about MPA being willing to accept anything is even more dangerous. You see coal is one cargo, there are various other cargo that could be more polluting. We could be a dump yard for anything and everything. More pollution. The minimum thing required is nothing falls on the road side and we have seen how coal has caused so many problems for the people,” Advocate Gracias added.
