The remote Zuna village has been in news since the Supreme Court order on sale of liquor ban within 500 metres mark of State and National Highway came into picture.
The Zuna Highway which commences from Borim in Ponda ends up in the remote Zuna village within the jurisdiction of Bhati Village Panchayat.
The Zuna village in reality does not have a big populace and neither has any amenities which deserve to be called a village or for that matter has any infrastructure development that could get it connected to a Highway.
The otherwise picturesque Zuna village in all has a total number of four houses all inhabited by a single family who had migrated from the nearby Darguinim ward of Uguem Village. The village does not have a regular source of water, electricity or any other infrastructural facility. The villagers residing here, numbering about 20, rely exclusively on kerosene-run lamps for power and nearby rivulets and springs for drinking water facility.
Though the village stands located barely about 7 kilometres from Sanguem town it does not have a proper road facility yet the Government calls it a State Highway.
The road to Zuna Village from Darguinim ward of Uguem is still ‘kattcha’ and it takes about an hour to reach to Zuna village by any means of transport from the Sanguem town. The road is bumpy, uneven and has frequent turns which makes driving on this road an adventurous task. No wonder the road to Zuna is many a times is used by bikers for adventure rides.
The villagers residing in Zuna village usually travel to Sanguem to make purchases for their daily requirements. Morever the village comes under the Netravali Wild Life Sanctuary and as such the development works of any sort in the village are made difficult as the Forest Department does not permit basic development works in the areas coming under the jurisdiction of Wild Life Sanctuaries. The only day when the village comes into life is on the day of the annual function of Shree Govla Devi Temple located at Digi village in Karnataka. On the day of the celebration which is held in February, a large number of devotees from Goa, particularly from Sanguem and Curchorem, travel to this hilly area to seek the blessings of Goddess Govla Devi.
However, despite the village lacking the desired infrastructure facility and the much needed road network, the Government calls it a village to be connected with a State Highway. But for what purpose and what benefits does the Government get from Zuna Village by simply calling it to be a State Highway is a million dollar question that needs to be answered.
