‘Mopa environmental impact assessment report is a scam’

MARGAO: The Goans For Dabolim Only (GFDO) on Tuesday sought postponement of the public hearing on the proposed Mopa international airport scheduled for February 1, questioning the environmental impact assessment (EIA) report prepared by the Engineers India Ltd (EIL) and supported by the state government.
Addressing mediapersons, GFDO convener Fr Eremito Rebello termed the EIA as a ‘big scam’ and remarked, “There are glaring flaws in the EIA, that on a cursory examination, is an unacceptable, casual, shoddy and shallowly constructed document that does not reflect the ground realities that prevail on the Mopa plateau and its surroundings.Also, the public hearing scheduled for Sunday, at Simechen Adven, Pernem, is an appalling waste of public money, time and resources on the part of the state government. The GFDO demands that the public hearing be postponed until a EIA is done with suitable seriousness reflecting the actual ground realities prevailing and the changes during the various seasons of at least a year, especially the monsoon season, rather than a mere three months that can be presented for a public hearing.”
The GFDO convener further demanded that the state government respect the climate, ecology and the people of Goa instead of ‘imposing such a massive project on such a large tract of land in an eco-sensitive zone’ and added that the GFDO had written to the authorities concerned such as the minister for forests and environment Alina Saldanha, forests and environment secretary, the Goa state Bio-diversity Board (GSBB) member secretary and the Goa state pollution control board (GSPCB) chairperson in this regard.
Flaying these government bodies, Rebelo said, “If they had certified that the Mopa plateau is not an eco-sensitive zone? If the EIA document had passed muster with these experts of the Goa administration, who are maintained by the public exchequer for protection of the state’s environment like the GSBB and the GSPCB? Have these bodies analyzed the EIA and set its seal of approval that it has been diligently done with application of mind before squandering public resources and harassing the people to attend a public hearing that is obviously just a façade to push through an unviable airport that will have very, very serious and irreversible ramifications for Goa and Goans?”
The GFDO convener stated, “The government’s so called public hearing seeking to brazenly give validity to a flimsy and shockingly slipshod, contradictory and outdated document done way back in 2011, is an obvious attempt at tokenism which is not acceptable to the people of Goa.”
Replying to a query as to whether the GFDO would participate in the public hearing on February 1, Rebelo divulged that “the GFDO is yet to decide about whether it will attend the public hearing or not. But, we want to save the environment and Goa from destruction as well as preserve the beauty of this place. The government should provide industries for the locals that will employ them, as we are very much concerned about their future and the development. But this is not the right way”.
GFDO has written to the chief secretary on the issue. Also present were Rajendra Kakodkar, Edwin Pinto, Jorge Fernandes, Celso Fernandes and Siddharth Karapurkar.