#SaveMollem Hashtag Floods Social Media; Protest To Save Trees Gets Stronger

A little-known village in Goa, named Mollem, garnered sudden attention after '#SaveMollem' started trending on social media. Around 5,000 people have come to streets to protest against the three Central government-approved infrastructure projects in the state - a powerline, highways and doubling of Railway lines. According to the protestors, the projects will certainly cause deforestation as at least 59,000 trees have to be cut in the village. One of the residents from the village, Shruthi Naik, said, "I have spent my childhood here and I don't want the village to get destroyed". Shruthi added that they had written to the government, but had not received any positive response in return. However, the state's Environment Minister Nilesh Cabral acknowledged the protests and assured to sign a pact with the projects' opponents to plant three times the number of trees that will be cut during the project. Meanwhile, Adani groups, who are one of the project beneficiary, denied the charges against them with a statement on Twitter.