The Mollem National Park has long been the emerald in Goa’s crown.
The green jungle that covers this steep area of the Western Ghats mountain range is home to leopards, Bengal tigers, pangolins, black panthers and hundreds of endemic species of flora and fauna found nowhere else on the planet. The muscular state animal of Goa – the gaur, or Indian bison – is frequently seen through the forests, and the park’s Dudhsagar waterfall is among the highest in the country.
Yet Mollem and the adjoining Bhagwan Mahaveer Sanctuary, which covers a protected area of 240 km2, will be fragmented and partially deforested by three invasive projects; the doubling of a railway line, road extension and an electric power transmission line.
“This is an area that has been declared by UNESCO as one of the world’s eight hotspots for biodiversity and that includes a proposed tiger reserve. This project will undo so much that it can never be recycled again, “said Claude Alvares, an activist from the Goa Foundation, who has sued all three projects in the High Court in Bombay and before a committee of the High Court.
Indian law prohibits the construction of nature reserves, but the government has approved it in the name of public interest and Goa’s future development. However, many believe that these three projects are part of a master plan to turn India’s smallest state into a corridor for a fivefold increase in coal imports by some of India’s largest industrialists, known for their close ties with the ruling government. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Cumulatively, this would involve diverting 378 hectares of forest in Goa, cutting down 40,000 protected trees and relocating more than 1.8 million tons of mud and earth within the sanctuary.
Activists and citizens claim that the central government has turned these projects over to Goa without public consultation or transparency. They are now subject to multiple legal challenges and have sparked a grassroots insurgency, unlike what has been seen in Goa for decades, with thousands taking to the streets in protest. Students, artists, biologists, tourism agencies and 150 scientists wrote to Indian Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar and the Supreme Court that the projects would be stopped, claiming the environmental laws had been violated or ignored. More than 8,000 people recently took part in a protest and dozens were booked or arrested by police.
“We save not only Mollem forests for their beauty but also for the survival of life in Goa,” said artist Svabhu Kohli. through art and action of the impact the projects could have on Mollem.
“They say they are doing it to benefit the people of Goa. But everyone in Goa knows that Mollem has a special magic, and how can replacing irreplaceable forests be beneficial? And if it is for us, why are we never consulted? ”
For the past three years, Goa’s main port, Mormugao Port Trust in the north of the state, has been expanding to become a hub for imported coal. Since 2018, two of India’s largest coal importers, Adani and JSW, have erected several terminals in the port.
In 2020, the Ministry of Environment granted approval for a third coal terminal and deepwater dredging work to accommodate large coal ships. The port currently handles 12 million tonnes of coal, but importers hope to increase it to 51 million tonnes by 2035.
Fighters in Goa have linked coal imports to a suspected increase in air pollution, lung disease and more recently an increase in deaths in Covid-19 in nearby villages where coal is being unloaded and transported.
The coal entering Goa is not even used in the state, but is transported across the border to steel and power plants in neighboring Karnataka and Maharashtra.
To make the long-term expansion plan feasible, Goa’s ancient single-line and winding road, both cut through Mollem to get to neighboring states, needs to be widened to accommodate the heavy-duty coal trucks and regular freight trains needed to transport the coal across the border. “This is the most important initiative and lifeline for port operations in the future,” the master plan regarding doubling the railway line said.
The railway extension was the first of three controversial projects that received the stamp of approval in December 2019 by the National Board for Wildlife (NAV), which falls under the Ministry of Environment. The project, which involves cutting deep tunnels in the sanctuary. and the revolution of 1.8 million tons of land was justified to meet the future demand of customers. But residents say the line is rarely busy.
The former head of the Goa forest department, Richard D’Souza, initially refused to approve the railway project in 2013, as it was unnecessarily and unjustifiably destructive to Mollem’s delicate biodiversity.
Mollem, Goa Map
“I did not find it appropriate to double the railway in the sanctuary, for I saw all these animals there with my own eyes, the black panther, bats, gaur and tigers, and biodiversity found nowhere else, said D ‘. Souza. “It was also not necessary because there were not many passengers on the line.”
The government has compiled an environmental impact study (EIA) for the project. However, it was carried out by an academic who is also sitting in the NAV government, who approved the railway project later in December 2019. “You can see it’s a complete conflict of interest,” Alvares said.
“The doubling of the railway will be a disaster, there is no doubt about it,” D’Souza added. ‘The whole sanctuary is very steep and you will have to cut deep into the land, and a large number of trees will have to be cut down. The famous Dudhsagar waterfall is along the tracks and is likely to be damaged in the work. They should just leave it at that; which will save the sanctuary, which will save the wildlife, biodiversity, everything. ”
The other two projects that will affect Mollem – the extension of the road to a four-lane highway and the first phase of a new electric power line – were approved by the NAV in April.
The central government’s green relief from the projects has sparked outrage in Goa, and many people were unaware that they were even in the pipeline, as Nandini Velho, a natural biologist in Goa, described it as a complete shortage of information and lack of transparency ‘.
Attorney Sreeja Chakraborty took on a legal challenge against the highway project for what she called ‘clear inconsistencies in the application’. She emphasized that the EIA conducted on the highway found only one bird species in Mollem. ‘A bird, during the entire 200 square kilometers of a nature reserve, as someone walking through Mollem will see several species, including the national bird of Goa, the yellow throat bull. This is just absurd and disgusting. “If you do not record what is there, no one will know what is lost,” she said.
“They can not defend the widening of the road based on traffic data, it does not stand up,” Chakraborty said. “It is part of a multiple attack on Goa to aid the expansion of the coal port, and every step of the way we have found that the correct procedure has not been followed.”
The state and central government justify the new power line, which will have six 22-meter-high pillars erected by Mollem, as needed to bring electricity to remote areas of Goa, saying it requires less than 0.25 hectares of land. The project has already begun and under the guise of lock-in in April, 20,000 trees were cut down at the edge of the sanctuary to make way for the power station.
Activists believe that the power line will comfortably serve the importance of coal imports, by providing more power to the port and switching the train engines to electric so that they can drive faster, more frequently and more efficiently for future coal cargo. “There is nothing in any documents linking the transmission line to the railway, but the situation on the ground is very clear,” Chakraborty claims.
Subhash Chandra, the chief government guardian of the state government, said the new elevated road would halve the time it takes to drive through the sanctuary. “We are taking all the necessary measures so that there will be almost no conflict with wildlife and to minimally damage the forests,” he said, stressing that a series of intersections, passages and gates will be installed around the road and track. to prevent collisions. However, environmentalists were screaming about this. “It’s a forest, not a circus,” Alvares said. “Wild animals are not going to follow signs to cross a road safely.”
Chandra defended all three projects, saying: ‘This is to meet the human, commercial and business needs. India is a developing country and our role in the forestry department is to balance conservation with development needs. The environment is not a static thing, nature has an incredible power to adapt and jump back, and the status quo cannot last forever, Goa must progress. ‘
Pramod Sawant, Minister of BJP in Goa, has repeatedly denied that one of these projects increases the transport capacity of coal, describing it as a ‘nation-building exercise’ with ‘no threat to Mollem’. In November, he promised that coal imports to Mormugao Port Trust would be reduced by 50% and said he would seek assurance from the center that Goa would not become a coal point. The Adani group has not denied any role in the projects regarding Mollem.
Meanwhile, the protests and Save Mollem campaigns continue unabated in Goa’s towns and cities, inspiring a new generation of young Goans who have confronted politicians and government officials for answers.
John Countinho, an environmentalist recently questioned by police for his involvement in the protests, said he feared that if the projects continued, it would secure Goa for years as a coal corridor – making them unlikely to coal to renewable energy, as they want returns on their investment in coal infrastructure. ”
Kohli, the artist and activist, said the future of Goa’s ecology “hangs in the balance”. “Goa has had a beautiful ecologically diverse coast and due to greed and a lack of vision we have lost so much of our diversity,” he said. “We can not allow the same to happen to Mollem.”