Movacho Guno’, located in the village Sonal, 10 kilometres from Valpoi, has a lot of history behind it. Movacho Guno is the local name, given by the locals to the place as once, there were many honeycombs on this stone. Rather large in size, it is very close to the Madhei river. It was here that Dipaji Rane, the freedom fighter, believed to be a Kshatriya (warrior) of Rajputana, settled under the leadership of one Satroji Rane, when he migrated to the Sattari region of Gomantaka.
Ranjeetsing Rane a freedom fighter said that in 1853, Dipaji Rane revolted against the Portuguese. He instructed his men to hide behind the stone as he felt that the place was safe to hide at and fight the Portuguese soldiers. As per his instructions they hid behind this stone. The Portuguese soldiers followed them to the place and as soon as the Portuguese soldiers reached the spot, Dipaji Rane instructed his soldiers to shoot around the honeycombs. The honeybees came out and stung the Portuguese soldiers and they ran away.
People who live in the area complain that the government is not taking any initiative to develop the place. The approach road is in poor bad condition. Driving a car or a bike on this road has become difficult. Sattari has many historical places, and Movacho Guno is one of them, but the negligence perplexes the locals.
Local people believe that because of the Madhei river, this stone has become a destination for domestic tourists. At the end of winter and through the summer a large number of domestic tourists visit the spot. They take a bath and drink alcohol. They believe it is a great place to drink and then there is the Madhei river to have a bath in.
The domestic tourists are mostly in 20-25 age group, many of them swim after drinking and it is not uncommon for some to drown, as happened last month. Every year two or three youth drown according to Nagraj Ghansari a villager.
Locals have raised this issue in the Gram Sabha and also informed the Panchayat. The Panchayat, however, has not done anything on this serious issue. Locals then met and gave a letter to the Mamlatdar and Valpoi Police Station requesting them to keep at least one police constable and a home guard on weekends at the spot. They, however, have not taken any action and did not reply to the letter.
Local women complain that people drink alcohol, throw bottles all over the place and also break them. Women go to the place to wash clothes and gather wood. Many suffer injuries when the glass shards enter their legs. They believe it not a tourists destination but a vacation spot for alcoholics. Last month a clean up of the place was taken up.
Domestic tourists started visiting this place from 2009 resulting in drownings. Valpoi Police Inspector Deepak Pednekar said they were doing their best to prevent drowning. Ashok Gaonkar, Sarpanch of Savordem Panchayat, Sattari said, “We have already informed the Goa Tourism Department, that we need a life guard at Movacho Guno as it has become a famous tourists spot. But till date it has not happened.” The Sarpanch said they had erected boards highlighting the danger on two occasions but someone removed them.
Anil Nene, panch member of Sonal village and former Sarpanch of Savordem Panchayat said, “We will request Tourism Department to give us a life guard and also request Valpoi Police Station to depute one policeman at this spot. We have done all the formalities through the panchayat level and we have sent our proposal for a life guard to the Director of tourism three years ago. But we did not get any reply from tourism department, till date.”
