Three incidents within as short span of time have placed the future of the island of Divar under threat. All three have shaken up the unsuspecting villagers of the island.
The first incident was on Saturday August 24, when we in the village of Goltim-Navelim were celebrating the traditional Bonderam. Here, the chief guest, who was Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, announced that Divar would soon be connected to Vanxim by a bridge. This statement, coming at a cultural festival, surprised many as the long-term residents of Divar. The Divadkars, have always opposed a bridge. It is only a few new residents of the island who are in favour of one. Besides, there has never been a demand for a bridge to Vanxim, a small island that is connected to Divar via ferry.
Vanxim has about a dozen houses that are inhabited through the year. Other houses remain closed most of the year, with people coming there only on holidays. If one conducts a cost-benefit analysis of a bridge to this island, then surely the costs would outweigh the benefits. I am not merely referring to the financial costs here, but also to the environmental costs. A bridge cannot be erected without approach roads at either end. Vanxim is so small an island, that one wonders where the approach road will be built. Similarly, on the Divar end, where will the approach road begin? How much land will be lost to this, and how many hills will be cut to create the approach roads?
The benefits of such a bridge, if any, will only be available to corporates who have for long had an eye on Vanxim to develop it for tourism purposes. This has been opposed in the past, and will be opposed in the future. It is obvious to us islanders, that the bridge to Vanxim is only to facilitate luxury tourism and that the 11 households in the village will be displaced once the bridge comes up.
The second incident came just two days later when we learnt that a Pune-based NGO had sought 15 acres of paddy fields within the jurisdiction of Goltim-Navelim panchayat to plant mangroves and that a site inspection had been fixed for Wednesday, August 28. We further learnt that the owners of the land sought by the NGO had not been consulted and yet there was already a site inspection marked, that the survey numbers mentioned in the notice and the actual land that was being inspected did not tally.
Due to breaches in the bunds, leading to the ingress of saline water into the island and paddy fields, not only potable water has been affected, but many of the agricultural fields in Divar have turned into mangroves. We, villagers have seen this happen. When the panchayat should actually be working to reconvert the mangroves back into paddy fields, they are seen to be facilitating the conversion of paddy fields into mangroves.
Converting paddy fields to mangroves will have huge ecological impacts on the island. Mangroves are known to degrade the land, they can grow quickly and congest the waterways.
We, residents of Divar have seen how quickly mangroves have encroached on paddy fields and we do not want this to be done deliberately. Tourists who come to Divar, believe that the island is green with agriculture. Only we know that the greenery is not of agricultural fields but is due to saline water ingress. The recent uprooting of the iconic mango tree in Divar is primarily due to the saline water ingress.
There was another shock for Divadkars, when we learnt on September 12 that the government had floated a tender for development of the area around the Church of Nossa Senhora da Piedade for eco-tourism purposes, again in the Goltim-Navelim panchayat. The project is envisaged in an area of 7,697 sq mts and will have 20 Swiss cottage tents or eco-cottages, spa, wellness facility, outdoor amphitheatre, restaurant etc. the activities will include yoga, meditation, nature tails, hiking, bird-watching.
This project, slotted next to the church of Nossa Senhora da Piedade, will not only disturb the heritage look of the area, but also the life of the villagers. Besides, this area is a no-development zone, so how can such a project be even envisaged here?
The three incidents – announcement of bridge during the Bonderam festival, the attempt to convert paddy fields to mangroves, the eco-tourism project – are a triple blow to Divar and its residents. In the era of double engine governments, this triple whammy has shaken the islanders.
Today, Divar is not the same village that we lived in some years ago. It is changing fast and if we, residents of Divar, don’t do something about it, the island will probably not exist after some time, at least not in the way we know of it. I’m not even going back to my childhood, but talking of my adult life in the village. I hope that we Divadkars will be able to save Divar for future generations. We have to do it, otherwise our descendants will not forgive us. Nobody else can do it for us, we have to do it ourselves.
About two decades ago, I had produced a documentary film titled ‘Delightful Divar’ that showed Divar as it existed then. Today, as I spend sleepless nights wondering about the future of this beautiful island, the title for a documentary that comes to my mind is ‘Divar Destroyed’ and that is disturbing me greatly. I hope and I pray that this will not be the case and as a proud Divadkar I am ready to stand with my villagers and fight for the island’s protection.
(The writer is a Divadkar,
heritage enthusiast, environment warrior and researcher)