Metro man E Sreedharan, who joined the Kerala unit of BJP, is the latest person to call out the damage done to the country by eco-fascists. According to Sreedharan, who built two of the most successful infrastructure projects of the country – Delhi Metro and Kokan Railway – “mischievous activism” and environmental activists like Disha Ravi are spoiling the image of the country.
Talking to The Print, Sreedharan said, “I would say it spoils the image of the country. It should be tackled immediately. I am not saying put them behind bars, but those who damage the reputation of the country (before) the rest of the world should be certainly pulled up.”
Anyone involved in infrastructure building in India like Sreedharan has a fair share of experience on how environmental activists deliberately create issues around important infrastructural projects with various ulterior motives. For example, the Aarey Metro Shed project, with which Disha Ravi was actively involved before her name was exposed in Greta Thunberg’s anti-India toolkit, would have been completed by the date. The functioning of Mumbai Metro would have a net gainer for the city as far as the environment is concerned, but the people like Ravi ensured that it does not succeed.
Environmental activism has already cost billions of dollars to the government, leaving the development of the country slowed down. The Intelligence Bureau, in its report in 2014, claimed that Foreign-funded NGOs were stalling India’s development. The report claimed that the NGOs are “serving as tools for foreign policy interests of western governments” by sponsoring agitations against nuclear and coal-fired power plants across the country.
The report further stated that such environmental activists and NGOs work roughly through a network of local organisations like the Narmada Bachao Andolan and have negatively impacted India’s GDP by 2-3%.
Even the government came under heavy fire as in the report, the IB accused ‘Greenpeace’ of receiving Rs. 45 crore from abroad in the past seven years to oppose the building of coal-fired plants in India with companies like Coal India Limited, Hindalco, and Aditya Birla group emerging as the NGO’s major targets.
The recent case of the Sterlite plant and the subsequent losses incurred is a prime example of environmentalists trying to stonewall India’s development. Despite the crackdown by the government, eco-fascists like Disha have succeeded in blocking many infrastructure projects including the Aarey metro shed.
The shifting of the Aarey Metro shed due to environmental activism has cost the taxpayers thousands of crores. The government committee constituted by the Thackeray government argued that shifting the car shed from the Aarey milk colony would lead to a cost escalation of 4,000 crore rupees.
400 crore rupees of the taxpayer money was already spent on the project and stay on the project for almost a year cost the government around 1300 crore rupees and now 4,000 crore rupees of cost escalation due to the shifting of the project is being estimated. So, the total money wasted to satisfy environmental activists like Ravi is around 5,700 crore rupees and at least one to a two-year delay in the completion of the Bandra-SEEPZ line.
“These are people who are unhappy with the Modi government. Anything that the Modi government does, there is opposition. Why should they create a problem, when they can join hands with the government and provide constructive criticism rather than destructive protests?” said Sreedharan.
Metro man E Sreedharan is very well aware of the loss the nation suffers due to environmental activists and eco-fascists like Disha Ravi. By taking on the likes of Ravi, he has exposed how environmental activists deliberately create issues around important infrastructural projects with various ulterior motives.