PANAJI
Legislators from the Opposition bloc grabbed the opportunity on day one of the Legislature's winter session and wore black bands while holding aloft placards to climb onto the anti-coal movement playing up in the State's streets and political space.
Immediately after Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari began walking out after delivering his address, Opposition Leader Digambar Kamat led from the front and hit out at the Government for shortening the length of the session to just three working days when the State was hit by "burning issues".
He demanded extension of the session's length to 20 days to enable meaningful discussion of these issues even as he pointed out that the House was in session for just seven days the whole of last year.
Goa Forward party's Vijai Sardesai demanded that the coal issue should be the first agenda to be discussed in this session.
"Discuss coal first before any other topic," Sardesai said and lamented that the Governor's address glossed over the issue.
The Opposition MLAs wore black armbands through the Governor's address and once he began walking out on completing his speech they raised placards also with 'Save Goa for future generations' slogan on it.
The movement against coal transportation driven mostly by apolitical civil society groups and greens has gained significant momentum over the last several months.
More recently, Opposition politicians have joined the movement which took a street agitational mode despite pandemic restrictions since October but are being looked at with suspicion since some of them did stints in power and reportedly backed the coal lobby then.
The anti-coal movement is on since 2017 when public hearings under environmental laws for MPT's coal infra expansion plans evoked mass opposition.
It gained huge momentum last year when three central projects in protected forest areas got clearance from the National Board for Wild Life during the National Lockdown in April.
The projects will facilitate a coal transportation corridor between MPT and steel mills in North Karnataka's Bellary district, claim the leaders of the agitation.
