“Our village is a beautiful one and it is now being bought by outsiders. We are a 100 percent minority community living on agriculture, mainly cashew plantations. But with the coming of this project, all the agricultural tenancy and mundkarial acts have on the contrary made this land non agricultural,” said Francis Rodrigues, convener of the Manch and resident of Tiracol.
He also added that rather than offering jobs in the proposed resort and golf course, “let us continue working in our cashew fields and make a living from it”. Rodrigues also emphasized on the need to continue with their self-sustained method of life rather than being displaced from their village due to a mega project.
Lending support to the cause of the Tiracol Rakhonn Manch, the Centre for Responsible Tourism (CRT) said the environmental impact the project would have on the village would be destructive.
“Acres of land would be cleared of natural vegetation and habitat, graded and planted with non-native grasses, trees and shrubs. All of which will require a lot of water, fertilizer, pesticides and herbicides to maintain. Chemicals will also be used in preparing the golf course and in fertilizing the grass which causes contamination of ground water aquifers, surface bodies and the ocean,” said Fr Freddy Braganza, general secretary of the CRT.
Speaking to media persons, Fr Maverick Fernandes, also part of CRT, said the tourism sector in Goa was being corporatized reflecting the policy at the centre.
“The larger picture to look at is the tourism policy at the centre. There too the focus in more on corporatization than economical sustainability among the locals. This trend is beginning to appear in many of Goa’s villages too where the locals are being displaced while the corporates are taking over,” he said.
