Alleging that the State Government has hurriedly prepared the Draft Climate Change Action Plan 2010-2015 and fixed June 25 as the deadline for comments and suggestions, the civil society members, working on Right to Food and Climate Change issues in the State here, feel that the document requires a wider debate and discussion among all stakeholders across the State.
Petitioning the Governor on Saturday, Biswajit Mohanty, Puspanjali Satpathy, U Daneil, Pradip Pradhan and Bipin Kumar Dalei, on behalf of Food Rights Collective, Odisha, have urged to direct the State Government to extend the last date from June 25 to August 15 to submit the opinion, suggestions and comments.
On June 5 World Environment Day, the Chief Minister, while launching the Draft Odisha Climate Change Action Plan 2010-2015, has invited public opinion, suggestions, comments on it from citizens, environmentalists et al by the deadline.
Drawing the Governor’s attention, the petitioners said that, since they have already been working on the issues in the State, they feel that the document is quite exhaustive and needs to be thoroughly discussed before giving any suggestions or comments.
As climate change situation has affected all the people throughout the State, the document needs to be discussed among all concerned and affected even in the remote pockets of the State.
It is a fact that, it is always the poor, Dalits and tribals found most vulnerable to any disaster situation.
But, it is matter of regret of that they are neither consulted nor taken into confidence prior to any policy or programme designed in their interests, the petitioners rued.
In fact, our State is witnessing a rapid growth on industrial and mining sectors with large plants in steel, aluminum and power generations, mostly using coal as the source of energy.
The climate change in the State has already taken its toll, they observed, adding the temperature is hovering around 46-48 degrees Celsius in peak summer.
Water shortages and excessive rains are resulting in floods in some parts while at the same time other areas of the State are suffering drought-like conditions.
With many more industries in the pipeline, the climatic situation in the State looks grim in the days to come, they pointed out.
The climate change situation has not only affected the environment, but also life and livelihood of the common man like the Dalits, tribals, fisherman etc.
More hard days are quite visible in the State, they prophesied.
The time limit of just 20 days fixed by the State is not enough for the public at large to comment or make valuable suggestions as scores of activists and environmentalists have expressed their concerns over the way the Government has hurriedly prepared the draft and pushing it to give it a final stamp as quickly as possible, they alleged.
They apprised the Governor that, they have also launched an online petition appealing the Chief Minister to extend the time limit at least to August 15 for comments and suggestions on the draft Action Plan.
