MARGAO
Anti-coal activists have beat the war drums again. With work on the double-tracking project continuing unabated, the Goyant Kollso Naka on Tuesday served a 48-hour ultimatum to Chief Minister Pramod Sawant to issue an order, stopping all ongoing track doubling works or face the wrath of the people.
GKN co-convenor Abhijit Prabhudesai has warned that the people of Goa will take whatever steps are required to stop the work to save the future generation.
Saying that Chief Minister’s promise to stop the ongoing works is not reflected on the ground, Abhijit warned that the people of Goa would now exercise the fundamental of democracy to come on the roads and stop what is going wrong in the State.
“Almost all the MLAs, cutting across party lines had supported our stand that double-tracking work should stop given the Supreme Court order. Around 34 out of the 36 MLAs, whom we met had taken the stand that the ongoing work should stop. They had even promised to take up the issue with the Chief Minister to stop the ongoing work,” he said, adding “We are confident that these MLAs will support whatever steps the people take and will be there with their constituents on the issue."
“We have exhausted all options. We had called on the Chief Minister, MLAs and the Governor. All had agreed that work should stop, but the work is continuing. In a situation where the Constitutional system has failed, the people will have to come on the roads and stop what is going wrong. This is the fundamental of democracy and people will exercise this right,” he said.
He added: “Whether the Chief Minister is under the pressure of the coal corporates will not matter for Goa, because the people will defend the State. We have full faith in our people. Our 48-hour ultimatum to the Chief Minister to issue an order to stop the double-tracking work ends two days from today (Tuesday). After that, the Chief Minister will be responsible for whatever happens in the state.”
GKN co-convenor Xavier Fernandes lamented that despite the revocation of the Wildlife Clearance by the Supreme Court and its refusal to allow the Western Ghats to be destroyed for coal transportation, the Goa government, represented by the Chief Minister, Chief Secretary, Nilesh Cabral, Mauvin Godinho and Krishna Salkar, met railway (SWR) officials on May 16, 2022, and allowed them to continue work in the villages, ignoring the stringent review and criticism by the Supreme Court and the CEC, and also disregarding the other 36 MLAs and the people of Goa.
Saying that GKN had received a positive response from the MLAs and even the Chief Minister to its plea to stop the double tracking works, Xavier, said that instead of stopping the works, Union
Minister for Ports Shripad Naik is asking people to welcome the coal infrastructure.
Activist Diana Tavares said the Supreme Court order has concluded that double-tracking is not necessary at all and that if the coal corporations want coal in Karnataka, they should get it from the east coast from Krishnapatnam port.
She argued that since the Ministry of Shipping & Ports has stated that the work within the Western Ghats, which includes 23 tunnels and 81 bridges, will take 5-10 years to complete, if permissions are ever granted, the ongoing works outside the Wildlife Sanctuary, in the State’s densely populated villages, must be stopped immediately. “This is essential not just to prevent unnecessary environmental and socio-economic losses to lakhs of Goans and to stop the waste of public funds, but also since the coal transportation is against the public interest,” she added.
GKN member Felix Furtado said that all the ongoing works are illegal given the misuse of the Railways Act to avoid obtaining consent from the residents under the Right to Fair Compensation Act, only to help increase corporate profits.
'Only 2 of 36 MLAs did not
support call to stop work'
MARGAO:
Goyant Kollso Naka has claimed that of the 36 MLAs they called to hand over memorandums to stop the ongoing track doubling works, only two MLAs -- Minister Nilesh Cabral and Congress MLA Rajesh Faldesai -- did not support the call to stop the ongoing works.
To a media query, GKN co-convenor Abhijit Prabhudesdai said 34 out of the 36 MLAs, including Chief Minister Pramod Sawant supported the demand to stop the ongoing works.
“Minister Nilesh Cabral maintained that he is against coal but pointed out that coal will stop after five years and double-tracking is to tone in the infrastructure. He, however, had no answer when we countered saying the project cannot sustain without coal,” Abhijit said.
As far as Congress MLA Rajesh Faldesai is concerned, he said the MLA has asked for time to decide but had not responded to date.
“All the remaining MLAs whom we called have favoured stopping of the works. They assured us they will take up the issue with the Chief Minister to stop the work,” Abhijit added.
