Goa corruption
The Indian Supreme Court has ordered status quo in Goa’s Mhadei-Kotigaon area, halting projects while the question of a tiger reserve is reviewed. For six weeks, a central empowered committee will hear stakeholders before deciding the issue. On the surface, this looks like protection. In truth, it exposes Goa corruption.
The Bombay High Court had already directed the state to notify Mhadei as a tiger reserve within three months, after repeated requests from the Indian tiger authority (NTCA). Goa’s government instead filed pleas to stall. Why? A notified reserve means restrictions on mining, energy, infrastructural development, and projects that fuel revenue.
Spread over 208 sq km and adjoining Karnataka, Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary is critical tiger habitat. The court even quoted the Mahabharata: without forest, the tiger dies; without tiger, the forest dies. Yet while courts quote epics, Goa’s officials gamble with extinction. Status quo is not protection. It is delay—a window for business as usual, dressed up as legal process. That is the essence of political failure.
The Goa corruption article:
Based on Hindustan Times, India.
Photo via The Goan, India.
