Agitated residents of Goa have been protesting against three infrastructural projects that will pass through the Bhagwan Mahaveer Wildlife Sanctuary and National Park in Mollem. Last Sunday, several people gathered on railway lines of Chandor in South Goa to block several trains carrying coal. Thousands of Goans protested through the night condemning the series of government projects. These projects—expansion of national highway 4-A, construction of transmission line, and doubling of the existing Railway line—will favour coal companies and make Goa a coal transportation hub, according to the protesters.

 

According to scientists, researchers, and several others, the Bhagwan Mahaveer Sanctuary and National Park in Mollem is Goa’s largest “protected area” that falls in the Western Ghats. It is one of the 36 biodiversity hotspots and recently, it has been declared a natural World Heritage Site.

 

The sanctuary is located near the town of Mollem, and about 60 km southeast of Panaji district in Goa. It is also an important tiger corridor between Goa and the adjoining Kali Tiger Reserve in Karnataka.

Several scientists who were part of the State Wildlife Board meeting told The Sunday Guardian that though there were disagreements about the approval of these projects, the report that was sent to the National Wildlife Board stated that it was approved.

 

 

Omkar Dharwadkar, a naturalist, was part of the State Wildlife Board meeting held in December last year. He told The Sunday Guardian: “During the first lockdown, two of the three projects were approved by the National Board of Wildlife. During the State Wildlife Board meeting, it was not approved, but the minutes of the meeting stated otherwise. We had written to the member secretary of the wildlife board that disapproval by some of the members should also reflect in the minutes. Basically, the drafts of the minutes are sent to the members and the finalised one is sent to the National Board, but it didn’t happen. The National Board after receiving these unapproved minutes approved the projects via video conference within 10 minutes. This was the first meeting of the board and the agenda was handed over to them right then and there; so many of the new members didn’t get a chance to go through the EIAs and make an informed decision.”