MARGAO: Hitting back at Chief Minister Pramod Sawant’s comment on ‘external forces’ Goa Forward Party president Vijai Sardesai on Friday highlighted that the people of Goa and his party are “fulfilling and living out our constitutional duties and there is nothing outside or external to this – this is a matter of the State and the nation.”
“Save Mollem is an exercise of our constitutional duties as there are specific provisions on environment protection enshrined within the Indian Constitution which every citizen must adhere to,” Sardesai said at a press conference.
Sardesai cites Article 51-A (g) which says, ‘it shall be the duty of every citizen of India to protect and improve the natural environment including forests, lakes, rivers, and wildlife and to have compassion for living creatures.’ He also recalled Article 48-A of the constitution saying, ‘the State shall endeavour to protect and improve the environment and to safeguard the forests and wildlife of the country.’
He questioned CM why his government “is not protecting and safeguarding the forests and wildlife of the country? Sawant took an oath to abide by the constitution.”
Mentioning that India became a State Member of International Union of the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in 1961, through the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), and India is also a ratified state party to the UNESCO World Heritage Convention since November 14, 1977, he pointed out that the member State has the duty to give details of how nature and wildlife property is protected, raising that the Mollem region of the Western Ghats is a UNESCO WHC and IUCN protected site, and the 8th hottest biodiversity hotspot.
The GFP chief stated that ‘if the Centre and State government cannot exercise its duties, the citizens have every right to raise awareness to these UN-supported international bodies.’
“India is a member of the global community, and Goa is a global tourism hub. We are not isolationists. If so, why are we hosting Vibrant Goa, and Sunburn, and IFFI? These are also global outreach programmes. What is this double standard?” he asked.
