Number of trees to be cut in Mollem much lower than projected: Nilesh Cabral

PANAJI: Environment minister Nilesh Cabral on Tuesday said that far fewer trees in Mollem than those enumerated in the environment impact assessment (EIAs) reports for three controversial infrastructure projects, will be cut.
Addressing a webinar on the three projects, Cabral said that even trees to be pruned for the project have to reflect in the EIAs. He also said he would officially engage with organisations like the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) in Goa on replanting projects to compensate for the lost tree cover.
During the webinar, member of the state biodiversity board Parag Rangnekar said that the EIAs for the projects were faulty. Rangnekar said that the reptile biodiversity of the region for instance was not even mentioned in one of the reports. Cabral then asked local biodiversity experts to approach him with the specifics, and said he would take it up with Union minister Prakash Javadekar.
“The road project through Mollem already has one animal overpass and three animal underpasses, which have been provided after studying animal movement in the region,” Cabral said. “For the power transmission line, only 230 trees will be removed from their roots. Rest will be only pruned. All these provisions have already been made in the projects.”
The minister said that it will be ensured that three times the trees being cut will be replanted elsewhere, and added that two reputed organisations will be engaged per replantation project, and will be entrusted with the responsibility to see that the saplings planted grow to maturity.
The minister also dismissed fears that the railway line is being constructed through Mollem for the transportation of coal. “It is not that these projects have been planned now,” he said. “These projects were planned much earlier. The railway project was planned in 2011, the road project in 2014, and the power one in 2014-15.”
TOI reported on August 18 that noted ecologist Madhav Gadgil said that the three projects are being pushed through the ecologically-sensitive Mollem national park to facilitate coal transportation from Vasco port.
He also said that the new road through the Western Ghats connecting Goa to Karnataka was important, as 216 persons have lost their life travelling on this route in recent times.
“As far as the land at Sangod is concerned (where trees have been felled for construction of the sub-station), it is private land acquired for the project and it is marked as orchard land,” Cabral said. “In fact, it is I who asked for more land than required to be acquired, so that we can use it for replantation of trees.”
For the power transmission line project, Cabral said that the existing 110KV line through Mollem has been made defunct so that this same corridor can be used for the new power line. “So the actual area used will be much lower than projected,” he said.