To Goanet, Reference to Mr.Avelino D'Souza's posting about the Supreme Court giving the go ahead to the 16 mining sites in Goa.
To quote the member-secretary of the Central Empowered Committee (CEC), "Yes, the companies can resume work, but we have to recover compensatory amount of almost Rs 100 crore from these companies, based on the net present value (NPV) of the forest land where they are undertaking mining activity." Are we given to understand that the environment is up for sale? That is, if you can cough up enough, can you legally impact the environment negatively? Either these mines are environmentally destructive, or they're not. I don't see the point in giving someone the go-ahead to plunder our fragile ecology, just because they have the required monetary power. To quote again from the ET article, "Many of these mining sites belonged to leading business houses, including VM Salgaoncar & Bro, VS Dempo and Sociedade Timblo Irmaos." The MLA of Sanvordem is Anil Salgaokar. I think he's supporting the Congress government. And the State forest department is given the onus to collect the prescribed fees (Rs.100 Crores). I think the reader can put two and two together at this point. The River Princess issue was never sorted out. Will this one be? Can even a hundred crores compensate the irreparable loss our environment will be facing, due to the actions of these ruthless miners? We're dealing with forests and our ecology here (both of which are far more important that the profits of a few powerful business houses), so I fail to understand how the apparently Hon'ble Supreme Court thinks that money can compensate environmental destruction. And before people accuse me of being anti-development, let me reiterate that we've reached a stage in our planet's history where *nothing *can precede environmental interests. Truth Liberates Nigel Britto
