PANAJI
Stung by the High Court order, Forest Minister Vishwajit Rane has said that the State government will explore all options for vacating the High Court order directing Goa to declare Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary and peripheral areas as tiger reserve, before approaching the Supreme Court.
He said, he had a detailed discussion on the implications of the HC decision with Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and AG Devidas Pangam.
“As a state we also believe that we need to protect the environment. We cannot say we wholly accept the HC's judgement, but we have to respectfully accept the decision that has been given”, he said.
He however said, we are examining all options, discussions are ongoing with several quarters on how we should take this forward.
“As a forest minister I'm saying that we will explore all options that are available with the State government. We are with the decision taken by the State government”.
“We will immediately approach the Supreme Court. We will not wait for three months. Our team of lawyers and taking the AG's view in the interest of the people... the view of the elected government is that we should explore our options of going to the Supreme Court”, he said.
Rane also said discussions will be held with the MoEF and the union ministries and “we will have to get the SC and represent our case and no matter how, we want to remove this order”.
