the goan I network
PANAJI
Revolutionary Goans and Goemkarancho Aawaz, two civil society groups, on Monday accused the Forest Department of facilitating the destruction of forests in Goa very casually despite a rap from Bombay High Court at Goa.
The groups cited as examples the felling of trees in the Chopdem Village on 2,64,197 square meters of land where acid and chemicals were used, as well as the 21,703 trees felled for development of the intended Mopa Airport.
Manoj Parab, speaking on behalf of Revolutionary Goans said that Parrikar had promised in 2017 that for every tree felled, either new trees would be grown elsewhere, or that they would be transplanted. However, whenever enquiries are made to Forest Department officials, Parab says that they either feign ignorance on the subject or make the claim that there were “never any trees in this area to begin with.”
Swapnesh Sherlekar speaking on behalf of Goemkarancho Aawaz said that Department officials keep using Goa’s above-national-average forest cover as a justification for felling trees. Sherlekar questions if the Department is trying its level best to bring Goa’s forest cover down to the national average of 35%.
The groups also said that “preservation” and “conservation”, terms frequently used by the Forest Department are thrown around in theory, but that the Department officials can easily be bought over by powerful ‘developers.’
On the 3rd of April this year, in response to Sherlekar’s letter asking for information about complaints about tree felling in a plot in Chopdem under RTI, Asst PIO and Asst Conservator of Forests for North Goa Division AG Samant replied that there were no complaints.
However, Sherlekar produced a copy of a complaint that he had filed regarding that plot.
The groups also went on to say that the felling of trees at the Mopa site was only stopped because of the High Court order that was passed in this regard, that too after some trees had already been felled.
They also asserted that though the PCCF talks about forest cover in the state increasing, this is only on paper. No officials have data to prove the same, allege the groups. They spoke about Mildly Dense and Vastly Dense Forests being destroyed equally.
When reached for comment, the office of the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) Ajai Saxena told us to contact the Deputy Conservator of Forests Dr N Palanikanth, who in his turn told us to contact the PIO Kuldeep Sharma for the region mentioned above. Sharma was not available for comment.
