the goan I network
PANAJI
The Aam Admi Party (AAP) said on Tuesday that the environment was continuing to face one of the biggest threats ever from the present government.
Stating that the Forest Department and Conservator of Forests for North Goa, Kuldip Sharma were all out to deceive the people of Goa by suppressing information about the vegetation cover on Mopa plateau, AAP member in-charge of environment Sidharth Karapurkar said that Sharma had signed an order to fell 54,676 trees on the Mopa plateau, even as the Goa government had been telling the public through their study reports that the Mopa plateau was barren and had sparse trees, being rocky and shrubby terrain.
Questioning the government’s claim, Karapurkar asked how 54,676 trees located just in the vicinity of the proposed runway alone had been felled.
Karapurkar said there was need for a fresh Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) report.
He further added that the government was acting hostile to Goa’s environment, to serve the interests of their “moneybags.”
The AAP also condemned the introduction of a new law which redefined what a “tree” was, thus ensuring that a certain category of trees would no longer be categorised as trees, making room for the “mass massacre of trees in the state in the future.”
