The Bharatiya Janata Party which is heading a coalition Government in Goa is all set to face the ‘coconut’ test again. More than a year after a controversial law sponsored by the previous BJP-led coalition, de-recognising the coconut palm as a tree, was passed in the State legislative Assembly, the impending clearing of 600 coconut palms for expansion of NH-17 now has put the ruling allies in a spot again.
While civil society activists, who have threatened to start a chipko-style agitation, are pressuring ruling alliance party Goa Forward — before the last assembly poll the regional party had been vociferous in its criticism of the coconut de-recognition law — to ensure that the 600 coconut palms are not chopped, Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar has now been forced to quell the rising green tempers.
“The controversial law of de-recognising the coconut tree is already a death-knell for our sacred coconut palm. And now this large-scale clearing of palms is only proving how insensitive this Government is vis a vis Goa’s most popular tree,” green activist Prajal Sakhardande claims.
The crux of the controversy lies in proposed clearing of more than 200 coconut palms along the National Highway at Guirim village, located around 10 km from Panaji and 400 odd palms along the Cortalim-Chicalim highway stretch.
One of the key partners in ruling alliance, the Goa Forward, in the run-up to the February 4 State Assembly election had repeatedly attacked the BJP for amending the State tree act, de-recognising the coconut palm, as a tree.
The Goa Forward, which is now in the ruling alliance, has however been ‘quiet’ over the proposed clearing of coconut trees, even as one of the Goa Forward MlAs Vijai Sardesai said that the State Government in the upcoming monsoon session of the Goa legislative Assembly, will move a Bill granting tree status to the coconut tree once again.
Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, responding to the coconut controversy has now said, that care will be taken to ensure that some of the trees are saved.
“My instructions to PWD are very clear even before the agitation was held... The government will try and save most of the trees and the rest, we will shift. If neither of the options can be implemented, only those trees would be cut,” Parrikar told The Pioneer.
Parrikar also said, that it is important to remember that the same National Highway authorities, who are being accused of earmarking trees for clearing, in order to facilitate the highway expansion now, had planted the coconut trees along the highway more than two decades back.
“Who planted those coconut treesIJ You have to understand that. The same Highway authority in Goa is controlled by local manpower. When they expanded it (highway) earlier about 25 years back, they planted these coconut trees,” Parrikar also said.