Tadoba controversy: Godrej criticises infra push in national parks
The chairman of Godrej Industries also went public with his concerns about pollution, stating that 60 percent of Indians grapple with the problem and wondering why we haven’t solved the problem.
Reminding that his uncle was associated with the Tiger Project, which played a major role in increasing the big cat population in India, Godrej opposed the “damage” to national parks.
“People are trying to damage national parks for the sake of development. I don’t think this is a good idea. Let’s have development but without damaging national parks,” he said while speaking at Mumbai Climate Week here.
Making clear that he was not against making money, he called for more efforts to expand tourism and use forests for other purposes such as forest products, noting that his company sources some oils from forest products.
“There are many ways to make money from biodiversity. But we have to be very careful about protecting biodiversity while making money,” he said.
These remarks come amid fierce debate over the Maharashtra government’s decision to allow iron ore mining by opening an open pit in the tiger corridor near Tadoba Reserve. Expressing his shock that the presence of the sea has not benefited the city, Godrej said pollution has led to loss of life, affected the lifespan or damaged the quality of life of 60 percent of Indians currently.
“I think we all need to raise our voices,” the septuagenarian said, noting that other cities around the world, such as Los Angeles and Beijing, have solved the problem.
Saying that there is no single authority to solve the pollution problem, he said that a GST-like structure between the Center and states has been proposed to overcome the problem.
