Why Goans Are Up In Arms Save Their Land, Oppose Move To Turn State Into A Coal Transport Hub

For most of us outsiders, Goa is all about beaches and tourism. While it is undoubtedly the identity of the coastal state in India and beyond, Goa is also known for its mineral resources.

According to the Goa Government website the state has abundant reserves of Iron ore, Manganese ore, Bauxite, Basalt, Laterite stones and rubbles, River sand, Murrum etc.

BCCL

The state is also rich in coal, the mining of which is now threatening the ecology of the state.

Protests against 3 projects

For some time now, locals and activists have been protesting against three infrastructure projects - the expansion of a highway, railway and a power transmission network, according to locals they cut through ecologically sensitive areas.

Goencho Ekvott/ Facebook

According to them, the Union government has signed MoUs with power majors in Bellari, Hospet, Belagavi and Hubballi in Karnataka which would combinedly consume around 137 million tonnes coal per annum, and since Mormugao Port Trust cannot handle more than 52 million tonnes coal per annum, the remaining coal is planned to be transported via road and rail. To accommodate free handling of coal via road, the Goa-Karnataka highway is being widened.

In July the government had approved the acquisition of 1,235 sq m in Majorda for the South Western Railways¡¯ Madgaon-Vasco track doubling projects. SWR will pay Rs 85.4 lakh to acquire the land parallel to the existing railway track.

Goencho Ekvott/ Facebook

However within less than a month, over 2,700 people from across the state have filed objections to the land acquisition proceedings.

The protests are led by Goencho Ekvott, an umbrella organization of about two dozen rights groups that are demanding that the entire project be cancelled.

While protests against land acquisitions are not anything new in Goa, this time it is much more intense.

Goencho Ekvott/ Facebook

Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant got a taste of it on Monday and he was forced to ask the Mormugao deputy collector to keep the public hearing on hold.

The projects are being opposed by many in the ruling BJP itself.

Alina Saldanha, a BJP MLA alleged that the railway track expansion project would affect thousands of people, ¡°destroy the environment¡± and ¡°make it impossible to live¡± due to ¡°noise pollution and coal dust pollution, making people prisoners in their own land.¡±

Goencho Ekvott/ Facebook

'For the past few months Goans have been relentlessly fighting against all the steps that the Pramod Sawant Government has taken to benefit Adanis. However, the Pramod Sawant Govt has turned a deaf ear to the voices of lakhs of Goans. Aam Aadmi Party wants to ask the Goan Govt - Have any of these decisions been made with the consent of Goans? Why are the voice of Goans not important for you? Why is the business interest of one business group more important than the voice of lakhs of ordinary Goans? Who has the first right on the forests, environment and resources of Goa - Goans or Adanis? Why has Pramod Sawant made Goa subservient to the interests of the central Govt?,' AAP Goa Spokesperson Surel Tilve asked.