Goemkarponn desk
PANAJI: Amche Mollem citizens group extended solidarity to the citizens and villagers who have been fighting against double-tracking in light of the recently concluded assembly and the Ganv Bhavancho Ekvott court case in the High Court.
This comes on the eve of wrapping up the #AskYourMLA initiative by citizens aided by the campaign and several other organisations. Starred Legislative assembly questions put forth by MLAS have received opaque answers from the Goa Government, which continues to pass on the buck.
A legislative question on “the Public purpose behind the import of coal by private corporations..” was met with the government answering that such “details are not available with the Department of Environment and Climate Change.”
The government went on record to answer a legislative question on the use of coal in Goa and stated that the Goan industry consumes only 0.83 million metric tonnes per annum of the 9.66 million metric tonnes imported by MPT in 2011-2022.
Further, an unstarred Legislative assembly question seeking the quantity of vegetables, goods, tourists and passenger trains was met with a disappointing reply that has come repeatedly that this data was under the purview of the central government. When asked to furnish details, the Goa Government and a policy of double-tracking at the state level again put this on the Central government.
“As per the seventh schedule of the Constitution of India. Forest and wildlife appear on the concurrent list thus, the State and Centre have equal power to take decisions on them,” responded the Amche Mollem Citizens Group.
It may be recalled that 20 lawyers wrote to the Central Empowered Committee of the Supreme Court to highlight the lack of due process for the forest areas, and the double-tracking permission given by the National Board for Wildlife was quashed by the Supreme Court. The group added that in light of this win, they hope that people’s rights and land will be secured through transparency, given the lack of due process and consultation with respect to the clearance of projects inside the protected area.
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