Eugenio Viassa Monteiro
Since long Goa has been a hotbed for the unplanned building of high-density housing, office space and mainly hotels. The territory has thus met demand generated by people from all over India seeking to buy second homes for their vacation and long-term stays; it has also catered to a booming tourism industry already recording figures topping 4 times the population of the small State.
Mining has equally been excessive and chaotic reaching over 50 million Tonnes (MT) of iron ore and manganese extracted in a year. This has had a huge impact on waterways and hillsides making some of Goa’s rivers resemble the Yellow River for the amount of liquefied earth and mud dragged. Little has been achieved by strong protests voiced by environmentalists because billionaire interests are at stake.
Lately, yet another even more damaging and deadlier activity has developed:
Major economic groups such as Adani, Jindal and Vedanta – energy producers operating coal-fired power stations, running steel mills and refineries in Karnataka – are importing coal from Australia through the port of Mormugao. Coal is then carried overland or by the waterways traversing the State of Goa a further 300 Km inland to the industrial sites where it is used.
12.75 million Tonnes (MT) of coal were imported in FY 2016/17, expected to rise to 25 MT in 2020. This activity is producing major pollution in the docks area where coal is unloaded and across every transport route to the interior. Coal haulage is done by trucks, long freight trains – 9 58-wagon trains daily – and barges up the rivers as well. The port area and every village in the vicinity of transport corridors is permanently filled with very fine coal dust, admittedly highly detrimental to people breathing it in. If everything goes to plan, industry bosses aim to double their industrial units’ capacity resulting in a total requirement for 52 MT by 2030!
25 T of coal a minute travel in the three transport modes according to an extensive report by The Indian Express published between the 25th and 28th October. Inhalation of coal dust is already causing severe respiratory problems. Public health is jeopardised by malpractices in the unloading, handling, stockpiling and transportation stages of the entire process. Goa’s villages are known to have a high population density. Furthermore, transport routes also pose a threat to two wildlife sanctuaries and a tiger pathway (though not sacred, tigers are highly respected and protected in India).
There are vibrant Goan environmental protection groups putting up a fight; it is hoped that they will succeed bringing to a halt the import of coal causing the slow death of people and animals exposed to the dust released in its wake.
Last year (2016) Goa was visited by 6.33 million tourists: domestic tourists account for the biggest share by far, 0.68 million being foreigners. Coal activity is likely to have a punishing effect on tourism. Laws enacted setting admissible coal dust concentration levels – at point of discharge and along the three transport-mode routes – should be carefully reviewed. Latest scientific data must be taken into consideration and strict law-enforcement pursued because public health and human lives are at stake.
Regrettably, powerful economic groups focus on quick profit paying scant attention to the consequences, environmental or other, in the medium-to-long run. They claim to comply with the existing legal framework that is typically weak or made weaker by the oversized role played by big money in India.
The State boasts a high 5-star hotel density too, over 23 in an area of 3,702 Km2. They make up 11% of all 5-star units in the country. A fall in tourist numbers due to coal will deal a major blow to Goa’s economy and India’s at large.
Not to mention the lasting and criminal loss of lives poisoned!
(The author is Professor at AESE- Business School and Leader at AAPI- Portugal-India Friendship Association)
