Gabriella D'cruz , Princy Fadte, Valerie Afonso, amongst others,addressing press conference on Saturday
Prakassh Kamat
Panaji,December 5- Youngsters under the banner of The Youth from across Goa ,on Saturday urged every single Goan and lover of our precious Goa to put "your age, religion, and political affiliation aside and RISE AS ONE GOA to protect Goa.
Addressing a press conference in the city, the group of youngsters said,"Our first and main demand to the government is that we ask you to stop tokenism about engagement with us. You can’t approve a project ‘in public interest’ without both due process and our consent and then tell us we can talk about it. It is clear: First, revoke the clearances related to Mollem and then start discussions.
In a strongly-worded press release issued at the press conference, the representatives of youth, inter alia, said, "On one hand you put up the Goa State Action Plan for Climate Change and ask for comments and on the other you say you will go ahead with the projects despite the youth (along with scientists, doctors, lawyers, architects, veterinarians and so many more) sending numerous representations citing the irreversible damages of destroying Mollem National Park and Bhagwan Mahavir Wildlife Sanctuary, which is Goa’s largest protected area, that is part of a Global Biodiversity Hotspot."
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 2019 shows how the Western Ghats gives us resilience to climate change and will allow for better adaptation against the effects of climate change. By not revoking clearances and destroying the Western Ghats, you are destroying our future and this tokenism is not only blatantly apparent but also contradictory in nature, said the press release.
Our goals and values as the youth of Goa are clear, our vision for development does not involve destroying forest and we will strive to safeguard and create a Goa that future generations can thrive in. We will not compromise on our intergenerational equity; Our natural resources are our shared inheritance and it is the duty of the present government and all of us in Goa to ensure that future generations inherit at least as much as we did of a state that is truly worth fighting for.
Many times the Goa government has tried to feign ignorance about these Mollem projects as being Central projects and we will not allow you to feign ignorance anymore. Be brave enough to take responsibility. Stop passing the buck. We would like to categorically state that the Goa Government knows about these three proposals from its inception. In fact they have forwarded these proposals based on approval granted by the Chief Wildlife Warden and recommendation of Goa State Board for Wildlife to the Central Government. We like to remind the government to remind themselves of our treasured Constitution of India. As per the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution, our forests and wildlife appear on the concurrent list. Thus the State and Centre has equal power to take decision on them and moreover the final decision on forest diversion lies with the State.
We now to ask the government of Goa to stop this widespread destruction and we are willing to tell them the process on how they can do it.
We first ask you- the Chief Minister of Goa who is the Chairperson of the State Wildlife Advisory Board- to send an immediate representation to the Union Minister of Environment and Forests who is the Chairperson of the National Board of Wildlife to scrap the wildlife clearances granted to the three linear infrastructure projects. You need to send a similar representation to the Regional Committee of Ministry of Environment and Forests and Climate Change at Bengaluru to ask them to quash the forest clearances granted for Mapusa-Xeldem transmission line, Xeldem-Xeldem transmission line and the approach road to the substation at Sangod.
Apart from these two relatively simple and straight forward letters that we put forth as a demand, we ask you to direct the Goa Forest Department not to issue any work orders to fell trees for the Goa Tamnar transmission line and to stop-all work related to railway double tracking on non-forest land, else you will have to face our agitations and uprising of many more youth from across Goa.
To sum up, the final and easiest step to revoke these clearances, to both the Chief Minister and the Forest Minister, you only need to direct the Goa Forest Department to return these proposals back to Goa Tamnar, South Western Railways and the PWD.
Through the fight ffor#Amche Mollem we remember that we stand for something that is bigger than each of us and a Goa that is part of each of us. We are not only doing the right thing for our State but we are doing it together to stop the widespread destruction of our forests that matter to each of us. Ultimately, we are the youth. We envision a thriving planet for ourselves and our children yet to come. You may constantly say that these protests are politically motivated, or influenced by a foreign hand. Please stop cowering behind these excuses and be courageous enough to accept that we, the youth, are fighting now for our planet, our only home and our future. And you, who forget you are our representatives but deluded by being ‘in power’, are taking this future away from us.
We ask once again for our voices to be heard and these clearances to be revoked, else in the days ahead, our voices will only get stronger,warned the press release.(eom)
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