Forest Minister Buckle Up Your Belt
Our Government is always looking out for way and means to complicate things, people earlier use to be scared to help any accident victim because as per the good books of the Goa police the good Samaritan would be the immediate suspect and would be grilled as per their whims and fancies, so much so that people started looking the other way the moment they saw something unusual, as a result of with a lot of people died on the roads or on the way to hospitals as a result of delay in action, and witnesses too were reluctant to give evidence but than the attitude of the police changed for some time and people were promised that people who helped the accident victims and witnesses to other irregularities would not be harassed or intimidated but as we see, things have not changed. The case of Rajendra Kerkar is a classic example. A well know activist and an environmentalist fighting against the big lobby of miners, builders and some mighty poachers who are devastating our hills and forests, like it was their kitchen backyard. Rajendra Kerkar respected by all Goans has most certainly fallen foul of our political elite when he demanded that the culprits who killed the tiger be brought to book. A man fighting to preserve and protect the forests and the wild life, has been wrongly implicated by the forest department as a grudge for his fearless fight against the elite, in this case of the tiger's remains at Keri, the investigations were ongoing for a long time and when it was finally proved beyond doubt that the remains were infact of a tiger, what do the forest authorities do ? Make a scapegoat out of Rajendra Kerkar. Isn't it the ingenious of the forest department ? Blame the person who caused all the trouble ! This actually reminds me of a similar case in our village, when we were fighting the miners, who had overnight, made a road through people's fields and cashew plantations, cutting down wild trees and cashews plants for excess to the mine. We sent the required complains to the different department on the issue and out of the blues, we get a letter from the forest department to prove that the land where the trees were cut belonged to us, instead of apprehending the culprits who cut down big trees. We took this cocky letter to the Forest Minister for explanation and I personally asked him if this was the procedure set by his ministry and all that he said was, that he was amused at the farce. He did call the head of the office that had sent this ridicules letter but nothing happened, the trees lay dead and the culprits off the hook. It is not just the forest department it is the whole government machinery that's rocking to the tunes of the elite suppressing justice to nature and the poor. Rajendra Kerkar has been a thorn especially in the eyes of the forest ministry, in his fight for the environment, the forest department has found a novel way of getting back at him through this atrocious accusation. Now that the cat is out of the bag and a scapegoat needed to rebuild their tarnished and badly damaged image, who else better than Rajendra Kerkar and this last act of malice against Rajenra Kerkar has done more harm to the forest department than good. Minister for forests, buckle up your belt and get your act together and work to catch the real culprits rather than intimidate and harass people who are infact helping you in your work. Freddy Agnelo Fernandes -------------------------------------------------------- The content of this electronic communication is intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom it is addressed and any others who are specifically authorized to receive it. It may contain confidential or legally privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient you are hereby notified that any disclosure, copying, distribution or otherwise placing reliance on the contents of this information is prohibited and may be unlawful in certain legal jurisdictions. If you have received this communication in error please notify the sender immediately by responding to this email and then delete it from your system. -------------------------------------------------------- ______________________________________________________________________ This email has been scanned by the MessageLabs Email Security System. For more information please visit http://www.messagelabs.com/email ______________________________________________________________________
