*Goa’s CM bats for anti-environmental projects: asks greens not to raise red flags against hotel, airport projects; Parsekar’s personal interest projects are under public scrutiny*
*Says activists must look at projects with a sympathetic view as they contribute to employment and revenue generation * 17 Dec, 2014, PANJIM: Reacting to sustained opposition to projects such as the proposed Mopa Greenfield International airport and the private hotel project at Tiracol, Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar on Tuesday appealed to the people, especially activists, not to raise unnecessary objections to such projects stating this would hinder the State’s development. Simultaneously, he said the government is committed to promoting pollution-free and environmental-friendly projects in the State. “The government is fully conscious about conserving the environment. But that does not mean we should start opposing each and every project without any study,” Parsekar said, towing the Manohar Parrikar line, and added “continuous opposition to developmental projects is a major hindrance in running the State.” Parsekar said it could be any project – airport or hotel -- but “If it is planned on a barren plateau, we should not oppose it. We should look at such projects with a sympathetic view as they contribute to employment and revenue generation.” The chief minister was speaking at the inaugural of the day-long workshop on ‘Role of Media and NGOs in Environment Conservation’, jointly organized by the Goa State Council for Science and Technology (SCST) and Goa Union of Journalists (GUJ). Expressing concern over the hue and cry being raised by some people, unnecessarily, on proposed developmental projects without ascertaining the factual position, Parsekar said, “The jobs in government departments have reached a saturation point. Now, we have to look at the private sector to create employment. We should invite environment-friendly projects.” The Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) study of the Mopa airport is currently being undertaken and the preliminary report has given a green signal to government for executing the project. The chief minister said the government is committed to create greater awareness about the importance of environment and efforts in this direction are already being initiated. “We need industries but at the same time, we should also take care of the environment so that ecological balance is maintained,” he said. Parsekar urged the Department of Science and Technology to prepare a road map for settling environment issues in the State. *Parsekar’s personal interest projects are under public scrutiny (Editorial Herald)* 17 Dec, 2014, So the heat is getting to him.Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar chose a discussion on the role of the media and NGO’s in Environment Conservation to basically say that environmentalists were disrupters of development. And without mentioning either projects, he referred to the Mopa airport project and the Tiracol Golf and Resort project, both in his political backyard of Pernem taluka and asked activists not to raise ‘unnecessary objections’. Look at his words: “The government is fully conscious about conserving the environment. But that does not mean that we should start opposing each and every project without any study of it. Continuous opposition to developmental projects is a major hindrance in running the State." If this was a general statement, it would have been a good ground for a healthy and meaningful debate. But since it is no secret that the elephants in the room are two projects that are being challenged for the right reasons, by the right people with the right intentions, his stand is perile. But Parsekar is no child when he says that projects are being opposed by those who have no study of it. In fact he is under pressure because there indeed has been too much study of both projects- the Mopa airport project and the Tiracol Golf Course which has caused this reaction. In case you didn’t notice, his remarks coincided with the Goa bench of the Bombay High Court issuing notices to the his Government, in a PIL filed by the villagers of Tiracol and Goa Foundation against the manner in which tenanted lands meant for agriculture were sold for the Golf Course projected against the Goa Tenancy Act and the Goa Land Use Act. The Mopa airport project has almost become a private or at the very least a private interest project for the Parsekar family with land prices in and around the airport area leapfrogging five times, while those who lands are being taken away, got one-fifth the same land prices as compensation. The Environment Impact Assessment for the Mopa project should have been done as soon as the land was identified, not after the Request for Qualification was announced. And the initial EIA report which is still subject to a public hearing, there were shocking gaps and discrepancies noticed by most environment experts. The EIA does not include a detailed environmental mitigation plan, a water availability and use plan and is based on falsehood about the vegetation, foliage and forest cover around Mopa. Can anyone in his senses, least of all a Chief Minister of the state say that opposition to the Mopa airport and the Golf Course project (which is a private project by the way), are being orchestrated by those who have not studied them. When challenges are made against blatant anti-people illegality by the government or its agents, it needs, time, effort, research and money amidst constant opposition from departments like the TCP, the Collector's office, the department of Enviornment and Science and Technology and even bodies like the Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority, which hasn’t covered itself with glory. The only thing that can keep them afloat in this unequal fight is “study” and information. So Chief Minister Parsekar shouldn’t even go there. When the National Green Tribunal and the Court’s come down heavily on the government for the manner in which these two projects have been handled, the Chief Minister will have to answer the people of Goa and not his other non-official benefactors. It is perhaps the “study” done by his non-official benefactors, which has prompted him to say, “It could be any project - airport or hotel. If it is planned on a barren plateau, we should not oppose it. We should look at such projects with a sympathetic view as they contribute to employment and revenue generation.” The Chief Minister needs to clarify what he attributes a “barren plateau” to. The Mopa airport EIA states that 385 species of plants, 88 species of birds, 33 butterfly species, 5 amphibian species,12 reptile species and 11 mammal species are documented in the area. How on earth is this a “barren plateau?” It is another matter that the Pernem taluka has been left out of the list of eco-sensitive zones by a ‘high level working group” of the government who clearly didn’t seem to be working for the people of Goa. Meanwhile the Tiracol Golf Course project is not on barren plateau either. It is in a area which nestles in an estuary, hugging the ocean and has rich fertile agricultural land which has been taken away from the people through guile and coercion. So we are indeed curious to know which fictitious barren landscape the Chief Minister is talking about. Neither Chief Minister Parsekar nor his predecessors have ever taken even one convincing stand towards protecting Goa’s environment and there is no reason to believe that they will do so now. But at the very least, the Chief Minister shouldn’t use half truths bordering on untruths to ridicule people centric opposition, when they see that the government is clearly not on their side. *HC issues notices to Govt, Leading Hotels on PIL against Golf Course project* *First major legal challenge to controversial golf course and villa project; tenants with help of Goa Foundation move court against tenanted lands being used for golf and hotel project* 17 Dec, 2014, TEAM HERALD PANJIM: A Division Bench of the Bombay High Court comprising Justice Ravindra Manohar Borde and Justice F M Reis, today issued notice on a PIL filed by the St Anthony’s Tenants and Mundkars Association, Tiracol, challenging the construction of a golf course by Leading Hotels on lands covered under the Agricultural Tenancy Act, 1964. Notices were issued to the State of Goa (through Chief Secretary), Chief Town Planner, The Town and Country Planning Department, the Goa Pollution Control Board and the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority, Collector North Goa, Mamlatdar of Pernem and Sandip Ganguly of Leading Hotels and his company and other representatives. Other petitioners include Anthony Mendes, a Tiracol resident and a tenant, and the Goa Foundation. The Court fixed the next hearing of the matter on January 12. The PIL has challenged the Leading Hotels’ purchase of the land alleging that it had sought to bypass the provisions of the Goa Agricultural Tenancy Act and Goa Land Use Act. The petition states that through questionable proceedings in lower courts and connected administrative decisions, 95% of the land in Tiracol village – which was earlier tenanted – has been shown to be purchased by the Respondent resort company which proposes to install a golf course and hotel project. The petition challenges the diversion of these lands for use of a golf course in explicit violation of the provisions of both these Acts. The petition alleges that the entire land area of Tiracol village admeasures some 13,84,000 sq mts, and the tenanted land comprised 11,27,097 sq mts of the total. Subsequently, several of the deemed tenants filed applications under the provisions of the Act to obtain orders in respect of the purchase price under the Act and for mutation. The Association became aware in 2011 of some efforts being made by agents of Leading Hotels to illegally free tenanted lands from the provisions of the Tenancy Act and immediately took steps to inform the authorities of the nature of the land and the bar on its conversion to non-agriculture. The Association wrote to both the Collector and the Chief Secretary, enclosing all relevant Forms 1 & 14 which belonged to members of its association and which were tenanted. The petition has alleged that “it is the experience of common people that when powerful actors are at work and politicians get involved, law is subverted and made useless. Inconvenient documents including earlier proceedings before the Mamlatdar were withheld from the Civil Courts. Efforts were successfully made to show the tenancies as “wrong entries” and thereafter to procure appropriate orders for getting “tenancy-free certificates.” It alleged that in this case, entire batches of applications for tenancy free status were disposed of on a single day, en masse, by the Deputy Collector of Pednem. The petitioners have prayed that the High Court invoke its inherent, extraordinary, revisional jurisdiction to quash and set them aside. They have also challenged Town Planning permissions for the golf course, consent to establish golf course issued by the Pollution Control Board, Environment Clearance issued by the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) and sanads issued by the Collector, North Goa.