Affidavit by the state of Goa in the matter of news item titled "India lost 2.33 million hectares of tree cover since 2000 global forest watch" appearing in the Indian Express dated April 13, 2024. As per the State of Forests Report of 2023, the total forest cover in Goa …
Given how environmental degradation and rehabilitation of displaced people have become so important, you would think that governments at the centre and in the states would be serious about dealing with these complex issues, deliberating at length about environment clearances and the rehabilitation packages relating to various projects. Yet, the …
The country's hottest tourist destination, Goa, will go green as gas utility GAIL has suggested extending its proposed Dabhol-Bangalore pipeline to the state for supplying the environment-friendly fuel. The state-owned firm also plans to start supplying piped gas in kitchens of Karnataka and help launch CNG (compressed natural gas) services …
Newly elected Ponda Municipal Council (PMC) Chairman Sanjay Naik on Monday convened a meeting with municipal and health officials, to discuss the ways to stop dumping of garbage and sewage water into the gutters in the town. The Ponda Municipal Council chairman asked Dr Keshav Priolkar to take appropriate measure …
Demanding that the proposed Food Park at Quitol should be scrapped with immediate effect, residents of Betul-Naquerim have resolved that the government should de-notify the proposal to acquire the land for the Food Park and withdraw its notification. The resolution were passed at the recent gram sabha, after residents criticised …
It may take months before the much-publicised Margao Municipal Council's ban on sale of plastic carry bags in the city finally comes into effect. For, the Civic body on Saturday began an arduous job of stamping the plastic carry bags in possession with individual shop owners. The objective behind the …
On New Year's eve, Goa Chief Minister Digambar Kamat declared that his government had decided "to do away with' the special economic zones (sezs) in their present form and had asked the centre to de-notify the approved sezs. This is, however, easier said than done. Disparate voices have emerged from …
the Goa chief minister's unwillingness to allow special economic zones (sez s)in his state must have mildly zapped his central colleagues (see p 24). Has he become a socialist? Doesn't he aspire for his state? But what Digambar Kamat did was to please his electorate; his energy has deflated the …
The Goa State Pollution Control Board has directed Jain Udyog Pvt Ltd, a sponge iron plant operating at Sanvordem in south Goa, to shift its unit after taking appropriate consent from the board. The board took the decision on December 11, 2007, in view of the environmental guidelines given by …
on november 28, the High Court of Bombay at Goa ordered a sponge iron plant in south Goa to stop operations within a week. This is not the first time the company has been asked to shut shop. The Goa State Pollution Control Board (gspcb) on October 6, 2006, had …
the polluting crushing units in Goa's Saleli village are facing a legal grind. On October 29, 2007, the deputy collector of Bicholim ordered all 13 quarries and crushers in the village to stop operations till they followed environmental regulations. The deputy collector has also directed the units to restore a …
The National Wildlife Action Plan was adopted in 2004. It entailed identifying ecologically fragile areas and wildlife corridors within 10 km of protected areas, and getting states to notify them as eco-fragile zones under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986. But there was no progress in some states. In 2005, Goa …
It's not often that villagers done in by powerful mining interests can take them on and win. But that's exactly what's happened in Goa, with the Panaji bench of the Bombay High Court directing six mining companies to deposit in excess of Rs 36.5 crore as compensation for villagers whose …
landmark is a much abused word when it comes to legal copy. But the Bombay High Court's recent order that six mining companies would have to compensate farmers in north Goa for rendering their agricultural fields unfit for cultivation through unchecked mining activities surely deserves this adjective. Mining has long …
Hilaro Siquera used to own a 243-hectare farm in Divar, about 6 km from Goa's capital, Panaji. His land isn't cultivable any more: saline water has claimed most of it. Most of Siqueria's fellow cultivators work as daily wagers, their farms having been reduced to mosquito-infested swamps. Divar's 400-odd farms …
I wrote last fortnight about how mining in Goa for iron ore was ripping its forests and devastating its people. I wrote of the violence and protests I saw in its villages, where miners were pitted against people angry at the loss of their cultivable lands and their water bodies. …
