My below not so pleasant outburst has brought in a very understanding
private post by Dr. Kamat where in, among many other things, he wants to
know the contents of my letter that to the Justices of the HC of Bombay at
Goa which prompted the Suo Moto PIL 02 of 2006. I have sent this letter to
the HC to all internet distribution lists as well as to all the newspapers
in Goa at that time, but I am posting it again on goanet because of its
relevance to public spirited fights with the all powerful authorities.
Hopefully it will be published, and for which I thank goanet in advance.
Cheers
floriano
goasuraj
9890470896
www.goasu-raj.org
PS: I shall be responding to Dr. Kamat subsequently.
PPS: Goa's Need of the Hour............. What's zat???
***
December 28, 2005
To,
The Justices of the Honourable Bombay High Court at Goa,
High Court Complex,
Altinho,
Panjim-Goa.
Your Lordships,
Subject: Willful Ecological Destruction of Low-Lying Calapur Salt-Pans and
Mangroves for Commercial Gains:
I am writing to your Lordships as a concerned citizen of Goa, who fails to
comprehend as to how a people's Government in a democratic set-up can take
decisions that will harm Goa's ecological balance, thereby exposing the
populace to the un-thoughtful, man induced calamities.
I firmly believe that a Government of the people must be the
conscience-keeper of the State. If this very conscience-keeper seeks to harm
the people of the State through its faulty decision making processes in
order to exploit its position of power for personal gains by subverting the
rule of law, then the appeal authority is the highest and the superior
conscience-keeper which is the judiciary. Hence this appeal.
The case in point is the surreptitious development coming up on the
low-lying mangrove filled Calapur salt-pans and natural ponds in the Santa
Cruz Assembly Constituency, where a huge commercial cum residential housing
complex is proposed to be built with utter contempt for the existing rules
and regulations governing the non development of such low-lying areas for
any purpose other than what these are meant for, viz. to cultivate salt,
agriculture, pisci-culture and more generally to act as a natural
buffer/sponge in case of excessive flooding. The proposed development will,
in time to come, if allowed to proceed unchecked, cause many more complex
problems such as sanitation and hygiene, apart from being prone to flooding.
As a lay person, I am not able to go into the lengthy details of hazardous
ill-effects of this malafide project, but there are eminent personalities
and qualified nature-lovers in Goa who will amply agree with my concerns.
I take the liberty of attaching herewith, for your kind information,
sections from the weekly newspaper 'The Goan Observer' covering this
proposed project which is self-explanatory, along with a letter written to
the Chief Town Planner, Mr. Morad Ahmed, pointing out various
inconsistencies in the proposed Town & Country Regional Paln-2011. I take
the liberty to also bring to your Lordship's kind attention a letter
received from the NGO "Echo Goa" concerned about the above cited Calapur
salt-pan development, which has been attached to the letter to Mr. Morad
Ahmed along with its enclosures.
To conclude my appeal to your Lordships, I beg to say that however much a
conscientious citizen may play his/her part in protecting the bounty of
mature, he/she cannot compete with the powerful and manipulative elected
Government which is hell bent on doing otherwise, as there is only so much
that a responsible citizen can do.
I have found it fit to appeal to the Justices of the High Court before on
more than one occasion with positive responses for which I am extremely
grateful. In my perseverance to protect nature, I shall not be deterred from
doing so again and again, believing that I will only be discharging my
duties as a responsible citizen of Goa who has neither the mean nor the
resources to fight this plague of Governmental irresponsibility.
With deepest respect and good wishes for the Season and the New Year, I
remain,
Yours faithfully,
Sd/-
Floriano C. Lobo
383A, Pirazona, Moira Bardez Goa-403507
PH: 2470223 - (m) 9422060347
Attached:
(1) Two copies of the letter to Chief Town Planner, Mr. Morad Ahmed with
attachments.
(2) Two copies of sections of the 'Goan Observer' coverin
----- Original Message -----
From: "floriano" <floriano.l...@gmail.com>
To: "Goa's premiere mailing list, estb. 1994!" <goanet@lists.goanet.org>
Sent: Saturday, December 26, 2009 9:34 PM
Subject: Re: [Goanet] Agacaim byepass would be an environmental disaster
frommonsoon 2010
Good work, Dr. Kamat.
However, cautioning the MLA and the CM is enough from your end as an
environmentalist??
Last time, with Hara proposing to build 7- storeyed shopping complex at
Calapur salt pans, you people made a lot of noise, showed yourselves in
the Cable TV et al and promptly went to sleep.
It was I who wrote to the Hon. Justices of the High Court and got Hara's
plans demolished.