Goa govt suppressed assessment report on mining impact: Gadgil

Noted ecologist Madhav Gadgil today alleged that the state's BJP government has "suppressed" his report assessing the impact of mining on environment in Goa.
"State government had commissioned a committee led by me to prepare a report on assessment of mining impact on environment in Goa. We had submitted the report in last October. The report is based on two-year long careful work. It is with the government and they are not making it public. They are suppressing the report," Prof Madhav Gadgil, who heads the committee, told PTI here.
The erstwhile Digambar Kamat-led government had roped in Gadgil to assess the impact on environment due to mining activity in the coastal state.

Though contents of the report are not known, according to reports Gadgil had accused a number of mining companies of lying in their submission before the Union Environment and Forests Ministry.
Gadgil had also chaired the Western Ghat Ecology Expert Panel which in its report has demarcated eco-sensitive areas in the region. However, the state government had refused to accept the report, with Environment Minister Alina Saldanha saying they will commission their own study in this regard.
However, Gadgil said he had no faith in the reports prepared by the state government.
"Our experience is that the government statistics are by and large fraudulent. I have no faith in audit done by the state government. They may conduct it (audit) in non-participatory and non-transparent fashion," he said, adding that, the assessment by the panel under him was transparent and participatory in nature.

On his report, Gadgil said extensive assessment of ground situation and field work had gone into preparing the document.