Goemkarponn desk
PANAJI: Activist Claude Alvares of the Goa Foundation said the Bombay HC judgment would “have a very significant impact on the four wildlife sanctuaries”, namely, Mhadei, Bhagwan Mahavir, Netravali and Cotigao.
“Out of the 745.18 sq km protected area, around 578.33 sq km is proposed as the core zone and about 166.85 sq km as the buffer in the forest department’s working plan. “This will put [these areas] in a different level of protection,” he explained.
Moreover, it would also impact linear projects like the controversial proposal for double-tracking the railway line from Castlerock in Karnataka to Kulem in Goa and the expansion of the national highway.
“The tiger reserve will also create a stronger case for Goa in the Mhadei water dispute [with Karnataka],” said Alvares.
Alvares questioned the claims about the scale of human displacement made by Vishwajit Rane, the forest minister.
The forest department’s note, which has been mentioned in the judgment, says the core zone was demarcated keeping the main villages and human habitation outside it and placing them in the proposed buffer zone as far as possible.
“There are a few isolated hutments in the core area, which may be shifted out. The removal [of human habitations] has not been mandated in the buffer zone,” explained Alvares.
