Source: The Logical Indian
Goa- that one place where each one of us has dreamt to visit with our friends, partying, making friendship pacts, like those shown in the Bollywood movies. Practically, the place is identical to Party and fun, but is only “this” the identity of the state? The state which is the last one to have gotten freedom from the foreign rule (that is, Portugal in 1961), the one which is the epitome of diversity, culture and biodiversity. As it sounds like a perfect tourist spot, all is not well in the smallest state of the country. On the night of November 1, people of Chandor village located in the south of Goa came out on streets to protest against the expansion of Infrastructure projects. Isn’t this weird? Why are they protesting? After all, such a project means development which further signifies more prosperity to the locals, right? Well, here the case is not as it seems, per say. The protestors took the peaceful way to oppose the expansion project by sitting on the rail track, performing Goa’s traditional music and dance because the contented project severely hampers the biodiversity of the state and does not add any value to the locals but serves only to the handful.
Source: CNBCTV18
The expansion project in contention is done for the transportation of coal from the Mormugao port (in Vasco da Gama), which receives coal from around the world, to steel plants located in north Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh via a protected forest in the Western Ghats. It is important to note that these Western Ghats are the biologically rich and bio-geographically unique – a veritable treasure house of biodiversity. The expansion project includes doubling the tracking railway lines, creating a new flyover, constructing jetties- nine to be exact along the Zuari and Mondovi rivers and four laning of NH-4. There are many plants in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh for which this coal transportation is made possible. As pointed out by lawyers and activists, this whole expansion is done under the Sagarmala Project which is the root cause of all the chaos. As according to this project only, Center gave approval in 2016, to make Goa into a coal transportation corridor. According to the master plan report for Goa, the Mormugao port is envisaged as a coal / coke import hub, with a projected capacity of 51 million tonne per annum (MTPA) by 2035. This all is done to cater the needs of existing and proposed steel plants in Karnataka’s hinterland. The Sagarmala Project envisions a lot of Infrastructural projects to clear this 51 MTPA coal/ coke from Mormugao Port Trust and capacitate a quick turnaround for the ships. This is the reason why the double tracking of Hospet Vasco rail line and four laning of Nh4 from Panaji to Belagavi is proposed. The concerns have also been raised by the Comptroller Auditor General as despite the tax levied by the state government for transportation, the transporters have largely failed to pay their dues. Also the whole transportation will cause severe pollution to not only ecological sensitive- Goa, as the pollution caused during the coal transportation because of specific gravity of Coal being 0.5 due to which fine particulate matter remains in the air for 3-4 days, but also to Karnataka due to several power plants there.
The state and central government simply termed these protests as motivated by the foreigners. It can be inferenced that the government is just trying to dust down their accountability and turning blind towards the biodiversity and people of Goa. It is important to think why, when the whole world is moving towards sustainable methods of energy, India is taking a step towards the “Black Gold”? The dilemma of development and preserving nature is not new, but the question is why do we need to opt for only one alternative, why a middle way is not opted for? The one thing which this year has taught is “Messing with Environment does not serv good for anyone”. It is high time to realize that we have got only one chance with Earth and it should not be wasted for the profit of few or in the name of development.
Written by – Ayushi Singh.