Goa, June 29 -- Environmental groups, led by Save Mollem and backed by the Goa Foundation, have launched a public campaign demanding that the Goa State Board for Wildlife reject a proposal to permit ore handling at Kalem Railway Station. The board will revisit the controversial proposal-first discussed on March 20-at its meeting on Monday, June 30.

The campaign features an open petition and mass email drive urging board members to uphold their duty to protect Goa's forests. The ore transport project, backed by Vedanta Ltd and South Western Railways (SWR), targets Kalem Station-located within the Bhagwan Mahavir Wildlife Sanctuary and Mollem National Park.

Activists argue that allowing ore handling in such an ecologically sensitive zone ...