(I've received the following petition as a forward. I'm taking the liberty of posting it here as it concerns a matter of great concern to all of us. As it says: Let's do our bit to be the voice of the voiceless, the oppressed , the marginalized and the weak, and influence the decisions which will harm the future forever.
Forwarded Hi This is fr. Josly fernandes sfx. Pilar. I request you to listen to me for 2 minutes. The government is about to pass the new environment policy EIA (Environment Impact Assesment). It wanted to pass it secretly without much noise by reducing the public response time to 20 days instead of 30 (Time allotted to public to raise objections, clarification etc). but they were forced to extend it for 30 days after environmentalists and activists protested against it. I LL MENTION IN BRIEF WHAT THIS DRACONIAN POLICY ENVISAGES IN BRIEF. Post facto clearance : which means a company can start their work without prior environmental clearance illegally and then seek necessary clearances. Of course they will be charged fine which is pea nuts to these large companies. Citizens Cannot oppose any destructive project: according to new policy if anyone destroys your backyard you cannot oppose it legally. The person who has violated has to go and report to the authorities about his offence ( thief has to go and tell the police that he has robbed) and only the elected representatives can report the violation ( MLA’s, MP’s etc.!!!!!!!) List of projects that can be started without prior environmental clearances : this includes inland waterways, national highway projects. (our rivers, our seas, our forests can be destroyed by the groups with selfish vested interest) Projects involving other strategic considerations. If a project is considered strategic, Without notifying any one on public domain, without any consultation, it can be commenced. Eg if government thinks a project in your compound is Strategic in nature they can begin the work without even notifying u. Its that serious. 30 days public response time reduced to 20 days: A document of a project more than 1000 pages which needs a thorough assessment since its consequences will harm the environment forever is being reduced by 10 days. Public hearing in any other mode: public hearing is suppose to be in particular physical space but now it can be done in any other mode like video conferencing. Will the tribals who are affected the most, be able to attend the video conferences? I have been in touch with our ICYM’s (Indian Catholic Youth Movement) general Secretary, Antony Judy, who is also a lawyer, who will send a petion to honourable president on behalf of the catholics all over India. He has also started a online petition on change.org. The data from this online petition will be attached to the petition that will be presented to honourable President. Therefore its my humble request to sign this petition by clicking the link and share it on whatsapp groups and friends and facebook so that we reach as many people as possible before August 11 2020, the day on which the hearing will be held. We have few hours left..!! http://chng.it/njc89Jzf7P Lets do our bit to be the voice of the voiceless, the oppressed , the marginalized and the weak and influence the decisions which will harm the future forever. Thank you. Fr. Josly Fernandes sfx
