*MPT ENHANCED COAL HUB EIA PUBLIC HEARING AT TILAK MAIDAN- VASCO- A REPORT*
Elaborate arrangements have been done at the Tilak Maidan, Vasco, on the lines of the arrangements that were made for the MOPA EIA Public Hearing. The very fact that huge amounts of money has been spent on such arrangements shows that the Govt. is already confident that this EIA will pass through like a piece of cake. But, unfortunately for the proponents of this project, this particular EIA ran into trouble before it even got started when vociferous opposition was voiced by the audience to a power point presentation that was being fluidly given to score high marks for the proponents. Having stopped this PPP, the first speaker was young Avinash Tavares of the Congress. His presentation questioned the EIA on all possible counts, to put the proponents in the dock, refuting and rubbishing every possible technical aspect as given in the EIA report. This presentation went into point by point questioning of the EIA report. As if this was not enough for the already shocked and humiliated panel of authorities, Savio Correia’s presentation couldn’t have been more apt, where he technically questioned the expert panel over certain documentation. The Additional Collector in Charge of the Hearing saved the day for the expert panelists who were exposed for shoddy preparation for the EIA Hearing. Speaker after speaker denounced this proposed enhanced coal hub when the already existing facility was in sorry state of affairs. And when Terrence George took the stand for his delivery, he literally took the pants off from the presiding authority for having shoddily prepared for the EIA Hearing without satisfying the obligations of supplying the copies of the draft EIA report to the citizens within a radius of 10 KMs through making such copies available in KONKANI & Marathi as notified. There was a vociferous demand from Terence George to cancel this Hearing and make arrangements for a proper EIA Hearing after complying with all technicalities. He stood his ground for almost 45 minutes when Fr. Eremito saved the day for the authorities saying that the hearing shall continue under PROTEST. He categorically denounced the Coal hub proposal and said Goa does not need it. Every speaker denounced this enhanced Coal handing facility at MPT, [Avinash Tavares] telling the authorities that SOLAR energy which is cheaper and the cleanest should be considered instead of this messy coal hub handling when the Goa Government’s records of maintaining the safe-guards on pollution control was not only miserable but non-existent, that if this coal hub was allowed in Goa, it would blacken the faces of every Goan, and Goa, which is a touristic state would be finished once and for all for the greediness of a few in power. Reginald Lourenco, sounded a warning to the Goan authority not to be the ‘YES’ men of the Powers that be, that they have the responsibility to call a spade a spade and warned them that the lack of displaying their strong back-bones to rid Goa of such devastating schemes presented in buttered wrapping will cost them dearly in times to come and that they would have no place to run to, to save themselves from the wrath of the Goan people. Yours faithfully speaking as the Hon. General Secretary of Goa Environmental Action Group- GEAG said that various speakers, especially Avinash Tavares and Adv. Savio Correia, have proven that this EIA report is not worth the paper it is written on and must be scrapped. This coal hub as promoted by Adanis must be ended here and now, he said. He said that the MOPA Airport EIA was rubbished as manufactured one, but MOPA Airport is well on its way. He said that Goans have been taken for granted for the past 55 years since 1961 because Goans only shout and do not act like naxals do. He displayed the day’s Gomantak Time’s [26 April, 2017] headline news captioned *‘LIVELYHOOD ISSUES CAN’T BE RESOLVED THROUGH GUN’* by the government…where Maoists have slain 25 personnel of CRPF warranting three illustrious military brass personalities like Admiral (Retd) Arun Prakash [ex-Navy Chief], Gen [Retd] Shankar Roy Chowdhury [ex-Army Chief & a Goan, Gen [retd] S.F. Rodrigues [ex-Army Chief] to be in agreement of the above caption saying that it is time to for the Powers that be to see where the state has failed them. ‘This is the gun that the Centre has held to the heads of Goans in letting Adanis and Ambanis to do what they want in Goa’. he said, ‘ issues like Nationalization of Goa’s rivers, Mopa airport which is brought in to give Goa’s Civilian Airport to the Navy for free where the Navy needs to be relocated elsewhere being in illegal occupation of Goa’s civilian airport , and the most important issue of India having occupied Goa illegally since 1961 because Goans have been over-tolerant and waiting with their tongues out for the Centre to drop mannas in their interest. ‘ Today,’ he said, ‘these issues cannot be covered under a fisherman’s pantulo [basket] any more and that the ‘pantulo’ stands taken away for once, here and today [thumping the podium] so that this issue comes up in the open. He said that the issue of India’s illegal occupation of Goa can only be mitigated through the Centre sanctioning Goa the SPECIAL STATUS under Article 371 of the Indian Constitution as demanded by GOA through an unanimous resolution of the Goa Legislative Assembly. That these buttery schemes promoted by Ambanis and Adanis shall not see the light of the day if and when Goa has the Special Status and only then Goans can say that their future is safe-guarded. Not otherwise. Goa, he said, needs a sustained development and not the off the cuff development which allows proponents like Adanis , Ambanis etc to skim the top layer and leave the sludge for Goa and Goans to digest. The end. See Pics. at Fb Group Page@GOA SU-RAJ PARTY:GSRP http://www.goasu-raj.com/gen/display_commentsOnNews_data.asp?pg=3937
