Team Herald
PONDA: A large number of people on Saturday staged dharna, shouted slogans and took oath to fight against an alleged illegal hill cutting at Mangushi to develop plots for a mega project.
People from Priol constituency and NGOs from all over Goa attended the dharna that was staged at Dada Vaidya Chowk in Ponda.
The agitators unanimously took an oath not to allow development of plots on the hills at any cost to save the Mangueshim village. The people warned the government that it would be responsible for any untoward incident if no action is taken to stop the hill cutting. They also threatened to intensify the agitation.
On the occasion, local leader Raju Mangueshkar claimed that the area that is being developed into plots falls under “No Development Zone” and that the local panchayat has not given NOC, nor any permission was obtained from the Town and Country Planning Department.
However, he said, development of plots is in swing since last six months by deploying bouncers.
“Out of the 350 plots being developed, only five percent of the plots have been bought by Goans. This will lead to clashes between migrants and locals,” Mangueshkar said adding, “besides, the hill cutting will lead to pollution of nullahs and depletion of ground water.”
He also alleged that the developer was trying to divide the villagers on the hill cutting issue.
The dharnas was followed by a meeting addressed by Govind Gavde, Sarpanch Damodar Naik, Fr Ermita Rebello, Adv Varad Mardolkar, Adv Surel Tilve and panchas.
