April 16th, 2016
GOANS FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT PRESS NOTE GOANS FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT said that it is quite clear that Goa has crossed its carrying capacity long ago, primarily due to the blind policies of the Government. And now, with RP 2021, the Government seeks to increase the pace of Goa’s destruction even further. GFSD along with thousands of individuals and organizations, had raised numerous relevant and pertinent questions and doubts regarding the ongoing RP 2021 process with this undemocratic State Government, which continues to remain adamantly unresponsive to the people’s legitimate concerns. It is now abundantly clear that RP 2021 has been specifically tailored to meet the needs of vested interests and speculators, at the cost of ordinary Goans, traditional communities and occupations and environmental safeguards that our ancestors had so carefully put in place and that have served us so well over the years. Despite overwhelming evidence being submitted time and again that the unjustifiable RP 2021 will surely lead to the destruction of Goa for private profits of a few builders and speculators, the Government refuses to consider the people’s demand for a Regional Plan that would cater to the sustainable development of the many rather than the short-term gain of the few. GOANS FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT once again reiterates and warns the people that RP 2021 is the biggest threat to Goa and Goans, as it releases crores of square meters to builders and speculators in our unsuspecting villages. This will only lead to a total environmental, economic and social collapse, even the extinction of the people, their identity and their culture. Already the signs are alarming. Villagers in many parts of Goa are living in daunting water shortage conditions. While South Goa has had to make do with manganese laden water from the Selaulim dam, the people of North Goa have been kept dependent on Maharashtra for their water supply needs. The drought like conditions in this state, and indeed in most parts of India, puts Goa in an unnecessarily precarious position, even as the Government obstinately goes about its plan of destroying and defiling existing water bodies and water recharge zones. Closure of mining, collapse of tourism, real estate market saturation, and gross failure of industrial estates are proof of total failure of the present policies. But it is what we have lost that is inexcusable and lamentable. Goa’s primary resources – her forests, agricultural lands, plateaus, ground and surface water bodies, minerals, hills, flood and storm infrastructure, khazans, sand dunes and seas have been defiled, polluted, and even permanently and irreversibly destroyed in some instances. We cannot be blind to the real threats of water and food scarcity, rising sea levels, frequent storms and failing monsoons in the future due to climate change. Goa must plan for local residents and for future generations rather than take the easy and short term path of destruction of our natural resources for immediate gains and private profit. When Government’s give substance to people’s doubts by remaining stonily unresponsive to their cries and queries and continues to lead them down a suicidal path, then it is time for the people to raise their voices, stand up and be counted. GOANS FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT calls on all right thinking Goans concerned for the well being and future of their motherland and their children, to attend the public meeting to be held on April 22nd at Lohia Maidan at 3.30 p.m. to protest against total selling of Goa through the shoddy, ruinous and one sided RP 2021 that has apparently been driven by vested interests and to demand the formulation of an equitable, environment friendly, Regional Plan based on authentic data, that safeguards the ecology and environment and takes into consideration the rights and needs of all sections of Goan society. For GOANS FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT Ramkrishna Jalmi Rony Dias
