Sandesh Prabhudesai
26 August 1999
Public issues always get hot during elections, with almost all the
political parties literally bouncing upon it to win over the en-block vote bank. It is
more easy for them if the issue involves villages, comprising semi-literate or illiterate
people.
Goa is no exception, though a strange thing is witnessed here on the
eve of Lok Sabha elections. The issue is obviously environment, but taking shape in
diametrically opposite directions in two different areas - the North and the South
constituencies.
One is over the upcoming pollutant project in the coastal area and the
other one is over protecting the forest belt as a sanctuary in the eastern part of the
state.
Speaker Pratapsing Rane, who has always posed himself as an
environmentalist during his chief ministerial tenure since 1980, is today mobilising
people in his Sattari taluka, the forest belt of the tourist state, demanding
de-notification of two sanctuaries declared during the brief spell of President's Rule.
Getting convinced over the plea made by a few environmentalists,
governor Lt Gen (Retd) J F R Jacob had notified around 420 sq kms of Madei and Netravali
forests as sanctuaries under the Wild Life Protection Act. It adds to three more existing
sanctuaries, now covering 758 sq. kms and protecting 20 per cent of the state's total
geographical area.
The entire stretch of Western Ghats that lies in Goa now stands
protected with this, while giving Goa the distinction of having the highest geographical
area under sanctuaries in India. But the forest belt here is agitated as the fear has
gripped the mind of the locals that they may be deprived of even basic facilities, as is
the case of tribals living in Cotigao sanctuary since 1967.
As a remedy, top bureaucrats as well as environmental groups have
suggested to exercise powers under section 24 (2)c of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 to
allow their rights sustainable while following a participatory model of conservation by
involving the locals. But the Congress is not ready to accept anything less than
de-notification while the BJP demands that localities be excluded from the protected area.
On the coastal side is the issue of Meta Strips, a copper-melting plant
worth Rs 250 crore, against which locals of at least three thickly populated villages have
waged a literal street war. They are not at all satisfied with Congress chief minister
Luizinho Faleiro's assurance to appoint experts committee under Central Pollution Control
Board to review the pollution angle.
While Faleiro is systematically trying to avoid the demand of holding
official public hearing on the issue, Dr Wilfred de Souza of the Nationalist Congress
Party has taken full charge of the agitation, appealing to the locals not to elect the
Congress but him. Being the Catholic-dominated area, opposition leaders like de Souza are
found more vociferous here than the BJP.
The Congress candidate Joaquim Alemao in the South Goa is trying hard
to retain the party's hold in the coastal belt by vowing for the protection of
environment. But their North Goa candidate Ramakant Khalap is not for protecting the
forest, even if it protects the locals.
Strange politics, indeed.
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