Summary:
The EIA report ought to have scrutinised the number of trees, their nature and longevity,” it noted. PANAJI: The apex court expressed its “serious displeasure” with the manner in which the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) report “made an attempt to gloss over the existence of trees” at Mopa The EIA report stated that the area required for the proposed airport has only a few trees, mostly bushes and that vegetation and trees are sparse at the site.“To later realise that the project involved the felling of 54,676 trees is indicative of the cavalier approach to the issue and a process of fact finding which is parsimonious with the truth. The court said the report should have considered issues such as the extent to which the trees or some of them were capable of being transplanted.It also pointed to the significance of location, saying, “In a given case, if the trees appear in clusters or in a dense formation, it would be necessary to determine whether felling all was necessary for the project to be implemented.” Post facto explanations are inadequate to deal with a failure of due process in the field of environmental governance,” the apex court stated in its order.The court said that the state of Goa was glossing over the felling of trees by submitting that 54,676 trees over a project area of 2,133 acres averaged out to 25 trees per acre or one tree over an area of 160sqm, adding that this was a “fallacious approach”.“Mathematical averages cannot displace factual data about the actual number of trees affected by the project..