PANAJI
Hundreds of Goans joined a relay 'Walk for Peace' from dawn to dusk on Friday along villages on a route between Mollem and Vasco to symbolically support the State's natural heritage.
To coincide with Gandhi Jayanti, which also marks International Day for Non-Violence, the organisers said the walk began at 5 am at Mollem and concluded at sundown in Vasco.
Nature enthusiasts walked a 70-kilometer distance in relay to symbolically protest the government’s move to build infra projects through protected forests ostensibly to facilitate transportation of coal from the port to regions in Karnataka.
Fr Bolmax Pereira, one of the organisers said, if the rivers originating in the Western Ghats in Mollem either dry up or are diverted due to these projects, this springboard-type development is of no use.
"It would be like climbing up to the springboard, only to find that there is no water in the pool below -- if you dive, you die," Fr Pereira said.
Friday's 'Walk for Peace' was led by The John Paul II Foundation for Sports, Goa, and co-hosted by the Parish of St Xavier at Chicalim, Chicalim Youth Farmers Club, Goencho Evkott, and Goencho Avaaz.
It is one among several protest actions held against the government forcing its hand and pushing through projects in protected forests ever since the three projects in Mollem got the nod from the National Board for Wildlife in mid-April.
