This August 15, we’re calling for a different kind of independence. Independence from FUEL. Do Paiyyon wali Azadi. Will you join us? More cyclists = less air pollution = better health! Find your city’s petition below. Join the revolution, and share with your friends.. On August 15, take your cycle and get out on the streets. Bring your friends along*. Share photos. Tag us @jhatkaadotorg #ResetWithCycling. Let’s demand independence from fuel, together. *Please adhere to lockdown rules in your city, wear a mask and maintain social distancing

* Hyderabad Pharma city: A proposal to set up a cluster of more than 1,500 water-guzzling, red category pharmaceutical industries, one adjacent to the other. * Aimed to be established in 19,333 acres of fertile agricultural zone covering 12 panchayats and their hamlets, the proposed Project area is surrounded by 13 reserve forests containing endangered species like leopards… * The area is known for paddy, fresh vegetables, flowers, fruits and dairy supplying majorly to Hyderabad region. * Needless to say, Pharma City is a disaster in making which will cause enormous ecological damage, destruction of thousands of rural livelihoods, loss of biodiversity, loss of food security and damage to health of future generations. * Telangana government is hard-selling the Hyderabad Pharma city by claiming zero liquid discharge (ZLD) technology. * But experience tells us that ZLD is a euphemism for effluent pumping into injection wells, rogue dumping by effluent tankers and secret pipelines. * Telangana and Hyderabad for decades have been facing pollution from Pharma industries with places like Patancheru becoming famous as the World’s most Polluted places. * Locals have been opposing the Pharma City project because of its potential to destroy local natural resources, including agricultural lands, forests, groundwater, tanks and lakes and a major loss of livelihoods. * The project will not just impact the 12 villages but will cause ecological destruction for the entire region including the city of Hyderabad impacting health and lives of millions of people. * The permissions for the project were brought in without the consent of the local people, by scuttling the Public hearing process successfully and by submitting falsified data and information to the Central Government. * Land for the project is being taken by force putting aside all legal procedures. * Officials are resorting to blackmail to acquire farmlands. * And the local farmers opposing the project were arrested in the middle of the night and still not given bail. * Hence this Petition. For more information please visit https://saynotopharmacity.wordpress.com/

*Update*: October 7 2020 . Amidst growing protests for the campaign, Goa Government has decided to go ahead with the projects claiming that they are essential for "development" of the state, and that laying of the inter-state power transmission lines would meet future electricity requirement of Goa. On the thousands of emails sent to the Environment Ministry, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said, ""Nothing in writing has come to me so far. I will consider it when anything comes to me", *UPDATE*: This campaign is now in the second stage. Appeals will be made to the Centrally Empowered Committee of the Supreme Court to run a thorough enquiry into this matter. Please find the letter to Mr Amarnatha Shetty, Member secretary at CEC with the citizens' demands and requests here https://bit.ly/3j7vNwO The Bhagwan Mahaveer Sanctuary and Mollem National Park in Goa are spread across 240 sq km of protected area in the Western Ghats. Together, they are home to pristine vegetation classified as West Coast tropical evergreen forests, West Coast semi-evergreen forests and moist deciduous forests and was declared as a wildlife sanctuary in 1969. But now, Goa is set to lose 55,000 trees and 185 hectares of forest cover -- three major projects have got the green light in June from MOEF for the widening of the existing National Highway 4A, railway line double-tracking and construction of a new power line. 149 people comprising scientists, academicians, conservationists, artists, allied professionals as well as concerned citizens wrote to Prakash Javadekar, Environment Minister expressing their displeasure on this decision. This letter is further backed by 400 medical students, 150 tourism stakeholders, and the Travel and Tourism Association of Goa. The land in contention is home to more than 721 plant species, 235 bird species, 219 butterfly species, 80 odonate species, 70 mammal species, 75 ant species, 45 reptile species, 44 fish species, 43 fungi species, 27 amphibian species, 24 orchid species, and 18 species of lichens. More so this is an important tiger corridor between Goa and the adjoining Kali Tiger Reserve in Karnataka. The letter also mentions that water scarcity will increase by several folds across Goa if these projects see the day of light. Two of these projects were cleared during the COVID-19 lockdown in April through a video call by the standing committee of the National Board of Wildlife. While there are EIA reports for all three, the transmission project report isn't available for the public to view. Let us stand in solidarity with the concerned citizens of Goa by asking the Member Secretary of CEC to cancel the clearance of all these projects that will result in the destruction of 185 hectares of forest cover in Goa. Join this campaign to remind the environment ministry that all development projects must be sustainable and not at the cost of destroying and disrupting so many lives.