By IANS,
Panaji : Goa Governor S.S. Sidhu has expressed serious concern over increasing drug trafficking and environmental degradation in the state.
“I would also like to draw your attention to a rather disturbing situation that Goa is witnessing lately,” he said in his Independence Day statement.
“Social evils like drug addiction and drug trafficking, corruption, environmental degradation (sully) the image of Goa,” Sidhu said.
However, he added: “There is “greater awareness and sensitivity among people, especially the youth, about protection and preservation of our natural environment and ecology.”
He said that no state or nation could survive without strong moral and ethical moorings. “It would be worthwhile for every Goan to think seriously about these aspects,” the governor cautioned.
In the past few years, Goa has been in the spotlight in high-profile cases involving top politicians and policemen linked to the rampant drug trade there.
Sidhu’s allusion to environmental degradation possibly comes in the light of large-scale illegal mining in the state, at the cost of Goa’s forest cover.
The opposition estimates that Goa’s illegal mining industry accounts for nearly 20 percent of the 45 million tonnes of ore, worth Rs.6,500 crore, extracted annually in the state.