The Goa Foundation’s Operations Fund

The Goa Foundation -- the strongest and longest lasting of Goa’s environmental groups, -- has functioned with donations from ordinary Goans now for its entire life of 30 plus years. Goans have ensured that the annual expenses of this small but effective organization are always available.

However in the last couple of years, the assaults planned by corporate parties and governments on the ecology and well-being of the citizens in the State have simply proliferated. They have also become bigger in scale. Our annual expenses have certainly increased. We are also seeking to involve many more young lawyers in our public interest litigation in the Courts. The Foundation’s legal cases are lodged in the High Court at Panaji, the National Green Tribunal at Delhi and the Supreme Court of India.

The Foundation’s outstanding work spanning three decades (most of it reported at www.goafoundation.org), will convince you that this is one organization worth blindly supporting in small or large ways.

The Goa Foundation’s annual expenses range between Rs.6 to Rs.9 lakh per year. This could be higher but for the fact that many people (especially lawyers) willingly fight the Foundation’s cases in the Courts pro bono (free of cost). Several activists assist the Foundation in its work (for example, verifying complaints, visiting problem sites) also free of cost. The Foundation works with few staff, that too, part-time. 

Nevertheless, office expenses have kept increasing steadily where they are beginning to pinch. Equipment (long depreciated) needs to be replaced. Travel costs of lawyers need to be taken care of. Young lawyers need to be supported in any case, especially if they are in training to be efficient environment lawyers.

The Foundation’s daily work output includes Right to Information requests with several government departments, appeals, final appeals, demand for justice letters, drafting of petitions for the High Court, appeals before the National Green Tribunal, petitions, appeals and counters in the Supreme Court. These are simply endless, but often get substantial relief. For example, a petition forced the Tamnar Transmission Line Project to fold up its illegal work at the proposed electricity substation at Sangod (outside Mollem).

Recent work has included legal challenges to all the three infrastructure projects which threaten Mollem National Park and the Bhagwan Mahaveer Wildlife Sanctuary, and notification of a tiger reserve for Goa.

Last year, in order to spread out its legal expertise among the Goan population, the organization organized its popular course on Public Interest Law, a 20 day course on all aspects of law and courts, with a strong environmental bias. .

We continue to work extensively on environmental issues facing the people of Goa, including mining, Coastal Regulation Zone including turtle nesting sites, protected areas including wildlife sanctuaries and forests, protection of the Western Ghats in Goa, conservation of khazans and agricultural lands, air pollution (no to coal), etc.