The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has demanded that the Goa government cease “colluding” with the mining lobby to suppress the findings of the Madhav Gadgil committee report on the impact of mining on the environment.
Valmiki Naik, ad hoc secretary of the party’s Goa unit, said here on Saturday that the report had been gathering dust in the home State of Mr. Gadgil, ecologist.He said the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel, headed by Mr. Gadgil, brought out the landmark report on the ghats ecosystem.
Most of its recommendations had been ignored, and even the watered-down recommendations of the subsequent Kasturirangan report were not being implemented in the right spirit by the Union and the State governments.
He said the mining lobby appeared to be arm-twisting the State government to reduce the buffer zones around wildlife areas.
The government said only 50 villages in Sattari, Sanguem and Canacona taluks fell within eco-sensitive areas, as against 99 villages identified by the Kasturirangan Report.
