PANJIM/TIRACOL: One of Goa’s most controversial projects, the ‘PGA standard 18 hole golf course and Eco Resort’ at Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar’s constituency, will now face a series of legal challenges which threaten to expose the manner in which the entire village of Tiracol has been literally usurped by the project proponents with the active connivance of the state authorities.
While a petition on this is going to be filed by the Goa Foundation on behalf of the villagers of Tiracol, by this weekend, another petition challenging the construction of a bridge from the Querim beach to the Tiracol river front, costing Rs 76 crore, ostensibly to enhance connectivity for the villagers, has resulted in the first orders from the NGT to stop cutting any trees for the project. This petition, also filed by Goa Foundation, states that the reason for this bridge is to mainly carry the water pipeline which will carry waters meant for irrigation from the Tillari dam to feed the water guzzling golf course and villas that need 2550 cubic meters per day of water.
Meanwhile, the prior Environment Clearance to the project, granted by the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) clearly seeks to remove Environment from the project. The project details completely exposes the big untruth that the project will benefit locals. The reality is that effectively all land of the village of Tiracol has been taken over by Leading Hotels. From Survey number 1-16, everything is out of bounds, mainly due to almost 100% acquisition Leading Hotels and the remaining with the Fort and under forested areas.
While survey number 1 covers the area of the Tiracol Fort, survey number 2-13 are in the possession of Leading Hotels. Survey numbers 14 and 15 are thickly forested while the settlements are in Survey number 16. This is where a garbage disposal and treatment facility, a disaster management site “with an helipad and primary health care center and a police outpost” has been sought by the government, effectively squeezing out the locals from the area completely.
ENTIRE VILLAGE SOLD: The sheer numbers are mind blowing. Tiracol village has a land area of 13.84 lakh square meters. The total acquired land for the golf course and villa project is 12.18 lakh square meters of which the project area is 9.90 lakh square meters. Have you heard of a single project in Goa or India where the entire village has been sold to a private party for one project?
2550 CUBIC METERS OF WATER PER DAY: The project will guzzle 2550 cubic meters of water per day of which 1200 cubic meters will go to the golf course and 1350 cubic meters for the 128 resort villas and 60 premium villas.
Disaster Management site with helipad, garbage facility, primary school, 25-bedded hospital, police outpost, bank and post office: The Goa State Environment Impact Assessment Authority has asked the project authorities to set up these facilities on the site as one of the conditions on which the Environment Clearance has been given.
However, Claude Alvares, the Director of Goa Foundation, the petitioner challenging the manner in which land has been usurped from locals said, “This is a way of taking over even the settlement land in survey number 16 for the project. Leading Hotels will take land of people and dump garbage in their settlement area.”
Advocate Yatish Naik, a keen student of the Regional Planning process remarked, “The Regional Plan has earmarked disaster management sites. What is the need to have separate site, with a helicopter, only for this private project. Is it to grab additional land?”
Efforts made to contact Levinson Martins, who was the Member Secretary of the Goa SEIAA as well as the office of Leading Hotels at Miramar, Panjim were not fruitful.
