Jitendra Deshprabhu, the “spokesman” of the GPCC hassupposedly taken a party stand that he thinks will endear himself to the thosedemanding greater green protection around wildlife sanctuaries fromdevelopmental (mainly mining) activity.
He told the press last week, that he would “urge theCentral government not to grant any relief to the state to reduce the 10-kmbuffer zone around the wildlife sanctuaries.
“I will meet the union minister and request thatthere should not be any reduction of buffer zones as it will encourage miningactivity. If possible, the Central Government should instead expand the radiusfrom 10 kms to 15 kms”
Deshprabhu attacked Chief Minister Parrikar forasking for relief around buffer zones because Goa was a small state and said,
“The Congress will oppose if the government seeks reduction in the buffer zones”.Perhaps he would do well to check with his two former bosses, ex-ChiefMinisters Rane and Digambar Kamat, who spoke exactly the same language asParrikar.
What assumes significance is that Deshprabhuspecified that he made the remarks in his capacity as part spokesman and thiswas the stand of the party. Not quite if you see documents outlining the standof both Rane and Kamat as Chief Ministers.
PratapSingh Rane, in a letter to Prime MinisterManmohan Singh on March 27, 2006, “Investmentsto the tune of Rs 2700 crores have been made by various kinds of industries whowill face severe restrictions as a consequence of the proposed declaration ofan eco-fragile zone. Many infrastructural development activities will come to astandstill. In the light of the above I request the union government to exemptthe state from formation/declaration ofan eco-sensitive zone around wild life areas” (assimilation of differentpoints in the letter quoted verbatim)
The next Congress Chief Minister Digambar Kamatwrote two letters in quick succession to two successive Environment Ministers,Jairam Ramesh and Jayanti Nattarajan, clearly establishing urgency on thematter. On August 12, 2010 (do no. CM/GOI/2010-11) he urged the MOEF toreconsider the proposal of a steel company Aparant Steel by the National Boardfor wildlife with a suggestion
“Anyproposal emanating from Goa should not be linked to the Western Ghat ecologyexpert panel and should be based on the eco- sensitive zone delineated by theexpert committee and submitted to the ministry for notification.”
On August 23, he wrote to the new minister JayantiNattarajan stating “A large buffer zonebeing made applicable to a small state would be exponentially more detrimentalas compared to a platform for other states”. He also asked for report bythe expert committee on eco sensitive zones to be notified.
Deshprabhu's remarks completely nullify each of theremarks made by Rane and Kamat. So what really is the congress’ policy onbuffer zones. Even though it is not in power, Deshprabhus remarks prove thatthe party is in serious disarray on critical issues where its spokesmans viewscontradicts those of its ex-Chief Ministers.
