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No final decision, says Goa CM on projects in Western Ghats
In reply to a question by legislator Rohan Khaunte, the chief minister said that the Goa government will instead file its reply in the Supreme Court and will wait for the decision of the apex court
Goa is yet to take a decision on the Central Empowered Committee’s (CEC) report on three infrastructure projects in the Western Ghats, chief minister Pramod Sawant told the state assembly on Wednesday even as the panel has recommended scrapping one of them and modifying the two other citing environmental concerns. Sawant said they will file their reply in the Supreme Court, which appointed the panel, and will wait for its decision on the matter.
The projects cut through the Bhagwan Mahavir Wildlife Sanctuary and Mollem National Park.
The CEC has recommended the scrapping of the railway double-tracking in the ecologically sensitive region, saying the project will cause more damage and provide very little economic benefit. The panel has recommended that the other two projects that relate to power lines and the highway expansion can go ahead, but with alterations in alignment and scale.
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Civil society and environmental activists in Goa have opposed the projects saying they will irreversibly cause damage to the region recognised as one of the world’s top biodiversity hotspots.
Lawmaker Rohan Khaunte, who raised the matter in the assembly, said the land acquisition for the projects must be scrapped citing the CEC report. “Will you accept the report of the CEC? Will you wait for the Centre to take a decision, or will you wait for the Supreme Court?” Khaunte earlier asked Sawant.
Sawant said the CEC has recommended that the highway project can go ahead. “It recommended that the land acquisition for double-tracking of railways be scrapped. They have allowed the construction of the power lines on the old alignment and not on the new one. These recommendations are before the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court has not taken a decision yet.”
Activists have asked the government to clarify its stance on the three projects in view of the CEC report.
The standing committee of the National Board for Wildlife in April last year granted its approval for the three projects and sparked an uproar and protests in Goa.
