Goa’s anti-coal struggles: NAPM calls for halt to 'destructive' mega infrastructure projects

By A Representative 

The National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM) has expressed strong solidarity with the people of Goa who are opposing the ongoing coal transportation and related mega infrastructure projects through the small coastal state. In a statement issued by its National Working Group, the alliance warned that the Government of India’s recent announcements confirm long-standing public fears that the three linear projects — power transmission lines, highway widening, and double-tracking of railways — are primarily aimed at enabling large-scale coal movement from Mormugao Port in Goa to Hospet in Karnataka under the broader Sagarmala and steel corridor initiatives.

Calling these initiatives “corridors of ecological doom,” NAPM said that such projects have no demonstrated public benefit and would instead devastate the state’s natural environment and people’s livelihoods. “For a small state like Goa to be reduced to a mere coal corridor is a recipe for disaster,” the statement said, warning that the state’s air, water, rivers, agriculture, fishing areas, forests, and public health all face serious threats from coal dust pollution and unregulated infrastructure expansion.

The alliance condemned what it described as a “questionable legal architecture” created to fast-track these projects in violation of environmental safeguards, social impact norms, and land acquisition laws. “These are deliberate steps to facilitate corporate expansionism at the cost of people and ecology,” NAPM said.

Reaffirming its commitment to grassroots struggles, NAPM announced full support for the people’s movements in Goa and Karnataka resisting coal corridors and destructive port expansions. It demanded the de-notification of Goa’s rivers—declared as national waterways under the National Waterways Act, 2016—and an immediate halt to the railway double-tracking project, along with the return of lands acquired under coercive laws.

The alliance also urged the government to stop all port expansion activities in Mormugao, citing opposition expressed during public hearings in the taluka. NAPM emphasized the need to restore people’s participation in planning and decision-making, particularly within port jurisdictions, in line with constitutional provisions of local self-governance.

“The government must undertake a critical review of its continued push for fossil fuel-based development,” the statement urged, calling for investment in sustainable and community-driven alternatives instead.

Extending support to the ‘Chalo Lohia Maidan’ mass mobilization on November 9, NAPM appealed to the authorities to respond “with reason, not repression.”

The statement concluded by reaffirming that the alliance’s three-decade journey of struggle, solidarity, and building alternatives will continue alongside communities defending their land, livelihoods, and ecological heritage.