PANAJI
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Friday said his government has emphasized before the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) that all the three linear projects which run through the Mollem National Park and the Bhagwan Mahavir Wildlife Sanctuary "are required" in the interest of Goa.
Sawant said, the Goa government has placed all facts about the projects before the CEC even as the latter headed by former Goa Chief Secretary PV Jayakrishnan inspected the South Western Railway route on a stretch between Tinaighat and Kalay where the Railways are proposing to lay a second parallel track.
The Supreme Court appointed CEC stopped at three spots along the route including at the famous Dudhsagar waterfall.
The CEC concluded the second day of its site visits in Goa within the Mollem wildlife sanctuary, covering the areas likely to be affected by the double tracking project -- the biggest of the three linear projects that will cut through the Bhagwan Mahavir Wildlife Sanctuary and the Mollem National Park.
The committee is hearing petitions filed by several environmental groups challenging the clearances granted to the three infrastructure projects claiming several discrepancies, concealing information and hasty clearances that will adversely affect the wildlife and biodiversity within the Bhagwan Mahavir Wildlife Sanctuary and Mollem National Park.
Upon conclusion of the visit the CEC will either hold more hearings in the case or directly file its report before the Supreme Court either recommending that changes be incorporated in the projects or that they be scrapped altogether.
On Saturday, the CEC will inspect the Sanggod site near Mollem where the Tamnar project's 400KV substation is proposed to be built. Later, the members of the CEC will visit the Mormugao Port Trust where they are expected to be met by multiple stake-holders, including those opposing the projects.
Goa has seen high-decibel protests over several months since April last year after these three linear projects among at least 40 others across the country dubiously got the nod from the National Board of Wildlife in meeting via video-conferencing during the national lockdown.
Civil Society and a wide section of Goa's political spectrum also joined in opposing the three projects on primarily two major counts: one that the irreversible damage to wildlife habitats in the Bhagwan Mahavir Wildlife sanctuary and the revered Mollem National Park is unquantifiable and too heavy a price to pay. And two, the projects are clandestinely being promoted to convert Goa into a transportation corridor for coal imported through the Mormugao port for steel and power plants in North Karnataka.
Earlier on Thursday, Jayakrishnan and team along with a battery of officials from the Forest Department and the Central government's Ministry of Road Transport had inspected the sites related to the 4-laning of the National Highway NH-4A and also a part of the Tamnar power transmission project.
