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 …
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. …
We were standing between a massive mine and a stunning water reservoir. Local activists were explaining to me that this iron ore mine was located in the catchment of the Salaulim water reservoir, the only water source for south Goa. Suddenly, as I started clicking with my camera, we were …
Goa is rapidly destroying its natural charms. The once lovely beaches are lovely no more, the banks of the great estuaries once clothed in unbroken forest are now defaced by a rash of ugly buildings and the government is even handing over tracts of forest and agricultural land to commerce …
Plans to increase ethanol content in gasoline face delay due to procurement problems The government has plans to increase the amount of ethanol in blended gasoline from 5 per cent to 10 per cent. This is likely to be done during the course of the ongoing calendar year. "Measures have …
The official blueprint Goa currently follows is the Regional Plan 2001. It was notified in 1986, and today there is unanimity that this plan has become redundant. For two compelling reasons
Violators make hay, regulators don't shine Nauxi is a small village, close to the capital city of Panaji. People here are angry. They say the hill adjoining their homes is being flattened. A builder has acquired the land and is constructing holiday homes, whose buyers are rumoured to be the …
A land deal, much whispered about, is allegedly by UK-based Claremont Group. Nobody knows too much about it. But UK papers in February reported: "Birmingham-based Claremont Group has launched a
Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) notification 1991: The CRZ area is defined as coastal stretches of seas, bays, estuaries, creeks, rivers, backwaters, all influenced by tidal action (in the landward side). The CRZ area is up to 500 metres from the high tide line and the land between the low tide …
it is clear that the Delhi Master Plan has been written by lobbies of traders that don't want their commercial establishments operating out of residential areas to be sealed, as ordered by the Supreme Court. A citizens' outfit has already gone to the court against the plan. The court is …
goa town planning minister resigns: Embroiled in a controversy over the Goa State Regional Plan 2011, the state's town and country planning minister, Atanasio Monserrate, resigned from the cabinet on January 3, 2006. In less than a week, the Goa chief minister, Pratapsinh Rane, sworn in BJP legisator Manohar Azgaokar …
groundwater contamination in Goa's Pilerne industrial estate has led to a drinking water crisis in its surrounding villages. By now, more than 300 residents from Orda and Saipem villages have been affected by drinking polluted water. The residents get their drinking water supply from a bore-well in Orda and four …
six mine labourers died in a recent landslide in Tollem iron ore mine in Goa's Sanguem taluka. Only two bodies have been recovered; the rest remain buried under a heap of mining waste, estimated to be about 150 metres high and covering an area of 12,000 sq m. Villagers allege …
on november 26, 2006, nearly 1,000 villagers of Chicalim, a village on the banks of the Zuari river in Goa, gathered for an unprecedented third gram sabha to vote against the Bharati Shipyard Ltd's plan of building a second ship building yard there. The shipyard, however, has the backing of …
After a delay of over six years, Goa has a 400-page blueprint for development. But the Goa Final Regional Plan 2011 has environmental groups, urban planners and the public up in arms. They want it to be repealed since it has subverted a draft plan released earlier for public comments. …
POLLUTING industrial units in Cuncolim Industrial Estate, located about 10 km from Madgaon town in Goa, are beginning to feel the heat. On September 11, 2006, the Goa State Pollution Control Board (gspcb) issued closure notices to three units. Less than a month later, on October 6, it issued closure …
the recent decision of Karnataka State Cabinet to go ahead with the Khalsa-Bandhura project on river Mhadei and the subsequent laying down of the foundation stone on September 22 at Kanakumbi village in Khanapur taluka of Belgaum district, despite strong protests from the Goa government, has initiated a bitter battle …
