GFDO Press Statement
January 20th, 2015
Goans for Dabolim Only (GFDO) said that it was an appalling waste of public
money, time and resources on the part of the Goa government to hold a public
hearing on an EIA that even on cursory examination, is an unacceptably casual,
shoddy and shallowly constructed document, which does not reflect the ground
realities that prevail on the Mopa plateau and its surroundings.
After perusing the document being passed off as an EIA by EIL and supported by
the Goa government, GFDO has communicated in a letter to the Chief Secretary
the glaring flaws in the document and requested that the Public Hearing
scheduled for February 1st, 2015, be postponed, until an EIA done with suitable
seriousness, reflecting the actual ground realities prevailing and changes
during the various seasons of at least a year, especially the monsoon season,
rather than a mere three months can be presented for a public hearing. Copies
of this letter to the Chief Secretary, that is attached herewith, have also
been marked to the Minister of Forests & Environment / Chairperson of the Goa
State Biodiversity Board, Secretary, Forests & Environment, Chairperson, Goa
State Pollution Control Board and Member Secretary, Goa State Biodiversity
Board.
1.. GFDO questions if the EIA document has passed muster with the experts of
the Goa administration, who are maintained by the public exchequer for
protection of the state’s environment like the Goa State Biodiversity Board and
the Goa State Pollution Control Board.
2.. Have these bodies certified that the Mopa plateau is NOT an eco sensitive
zone?
3.. Have these bodies analysed the EIA and set its seal of approval that it
has been diligently done with application of mind before squandering public
resources and harassing the people to attend a Public Hearing that is obviously
just a façade to push through an unviable airport that will have very, very
serious and irreversible ramifications for Goa and Goans?
4.. The government’s so called “Public Hearing” seeking to brazenly give
validity to a flimsy and shockingly slipshod, contradictory and outdated
document done way back in 2011, is an obvious attempt at empty tokenism which
is not acceptable to the people of Goa.
Hence GFDO demands that the Government of Goa show some respect to the climate,
ecology and the people of Goa by treating the imposition of such a massive
project on such a large tract of land in an eco sensitive zone with the respect
and care it merits.
For GOANS FOR DABOLIM ONLY
Fr. Eremito
Convenor
