the goan I network
PANAJI
The Congress Legislative Party came out strongly against coal transportation saying the government of the day has completely ignored people's sentiments on the issue and has instead sought to politicise it.
Addressing a press conference after a marathon Congress Legislative Party (CLP) meeting held on Monday, Leader of Opposition Chandrakant Kavlekar said the party has unequivocally opposed the expansion plans.
"Earlier it was just 2 million tonnes and from then they took it up to 10-12 million tonnes. Now they want to expand the capacity to 16-22 million tonnes. They are not thinking about consequences for Vasco da Gama. Despite signs that people do not want this, through public hearings and complaints of health problems there is no sign that the government is recognizing this and slowing things down. All this for the sake of a few industrialists," Kavlekar said.
He demanded that the expansion should stop and the government should take precautions to ensure that pollution is kept under control.
Adding to the debate, Curtorim MLA Reginaldo Lourenço pointed out that BJP including Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar and spokesperson Dattaprasad Naik have blamed the Congress for bringing Coal to Goa.
He pointed to a letter written by Arun Jaitley the then minister for Law, Justice and Company Affairs to then CM Manohar Parrikar in which he refers to a decision of the Goa government to transfer land to MPT at a cost of Rs 7.96 crore in a bid to increase the ‘efficiency of MPT'.
He also referred to an order issued by the then South Goa Collector Krishnamurthy, also during the BJP tenure back in 2001, which handed over to MPT lands belonging to the Goa Government a total of 1629795 hectares of land covering Baina, Desterro, Bogda, Sada Headland and jetty areas to MPT paying the state Rs 3.41 crore and an additional Rs 4.55 crore for the rehabilitation of persons affected.
"This proves that Parrikar by seeking to blame the Congress, is a bare faced liar. It is he who is doing all this for the benefits of the corporates. All infrastructure development they are doing is not for the love of you or me, it is for the corporates," Reginaldo said.
Further responding to the BJP charge that it was the Congress that brought coal to Goa, Reginaldo pointed out that then CM Digambar Kamat had written to then environment minister Jairam Ramesh the adverse impact of coal handling and Ramesh's subsequent response that he would have the matter looked into.
CONG ATTACK: PARTY TALK
Despite public hearings, health problems there is no sign of things slowing down
All infra development is for the love of corporates
Earlier it was just 2 mn tonnes... plans afoot to expand capacity to 16-22 mn tonnes
Expansion plans should stop; government should ensure pollution is kept under control
It was Parrikar who reduced cess on coal in 2012 from `250 per tonne to `50 per tonne
This is when Adani began operations at Mormugao Port
People are continuously protesting but there is no sign government is listening
Congress to write to Centre on
delisting Goa rivers
PANAJI: The Congress Legislature Party has said that it will write to the central government to delist the six rivers of Goa from the Nationalisation of Rivers Act which designates 111 rivers across the country including six of Goa's rivers as national waterways as they were not in Goa's interest.
Addressing media, former minister of Inland Waterways, Nilkanth Halarnkar said he as minister back in 2010 had refused to entertain a proposal from the central government to nationalise the waterways of Goa and it was only after the BJP government came to power that the process was taken forward.
"We will be writing to the central government to remove these six rivers from the schedule of the Act. If Gadkari or anyone is saying that the State will retain control of the rivers, he is lying because the provisions in the Act do not back his stand," GPCC president Shantaram Naik who was also present for the meeting said.
