In what kind of place can a restaurant owner persuade a government contractor to destroy a government-built retaining wall and excavate a cliff to build a road through someone else’s land and dump the debris into the sea; all without any kind of permission or NOC from any authority or the land owner? Well, since it’s next to the sea, it can’t be Bihar. But it has to be a pretty lawless place.
Believe it or not, it happened in Goa… in Baga.
On Saturday evening (these kinds of dark deeds always take place when government offices are closed for the weekend), a contractor, Samuel Monteiro, who is constructing a retaining wall for the Water Resources Department (WRD), deployed a heavy duty earthmover, popularly called a JCB, to excavate a fragile cliff and demolish a retaining wall built just a year ago to protect the beautiful Xavier Retreat House on the Baga hill. Excavation went on till early Sunday morning, before it was stopped by the Retreat House’s resident priest, nuns, and some locals.
This blatantly illegal excavation was carried out to convert an existing narrow path to a secluded cove located under the Baga Hill, into a motorable road. When confronted, Monteiro said that he did the excavation on the orders of Arpora-Nagoa Panch Member Cleophas Fernandes, better known as Celfa, who operates a beach shack in the cove.
Director of the Xavier Retreat House Fr Ronnie D’Souza then filed a complaint with the Anjuna Police accusing Panch Celfa of trespassing, cutting trees and undertaking hill-cutting activity by engaging the JCB of the contractor, and posing a serious threat to the life and property of those living in the Retreat House as well as visitors. The state government, through the Public Works Department (PWD), had built the retaining wall at a cost of Rs 1.25 crore to avert landslides and the Retreat House collapsing into the sea.
Fr D’Souza told the media that the illegal hill cutting was in private property belonging to the Jesuit community in Goa, and was carried out without oral or written permission. He said that he had brought it to the notice of the Arpora-Nagoa panchayat, but no action was forthcoming, “for reasons unknown”. The good Father is a diplomatic man. The reasons may be officially ‘unknown’, but put two and two together, and anyone can see that the Panchayat is unlikely to act on a complaint against a panch member who is not only in favour with the ruling faction in the local body, but is also said to be very closely connected to WRD Minister Dayanand Mandrekar.
Probably realising that the involvement of a political heavyweight required a counter-weight, Fr D’Souza then contacted Calangute MLA Michael Lobo. This is when all the wheels — immobile so far — suddenly started to turn. Acting on Fr D’Souza’s complaint (following Calangute MLA Lobo’s intervention), an Anjuna police team led by PI Paresh Naik and PSI Vijaynath Kavlekar confiscated the JCB. Then Bardez Mamlatdar Kshama Arondekar and a Flying Squad also rushed to the site and conducted an assessment of the situation. WRD Junior Engineer J Vinoo, the contractor’s supervisor, Arpora-Nagoa Deputy Sarpanch Roshan Redkar, Panchas Agostinho D’Souza and Sakharam Naik and Talathi Redkar also arrived at the site. It was an impressive mobilisation that Lobo can justifiably be proud of.
Mamlatdar Aronderkar confirmed to the media that her team had observed hill-cutting work by the JCB, including destruction of the retaining wall, apart from damage to the huge rocks at the seaside. She said that she would “accordingly put up the matter to my seniors for necessary action”. What action is forthcoming we will have to see, since the whispers in the corridors of power are that Calangute MLA Michael Lobo is out of favour with the current political dispensation, while Minister Dayanand Mandrekar is clearly not.
But it is Fr D’Souza’s rightful contention that the hill-cutting work for the road through the Jesuit private property endangers the Retreat House and the lives of those living in it, as well as those visiting it; the Retreat House could collapse in the event of heavy unseasonal rains. The government needs to ensure that the retaining wall is repaired forthwith. Fr D’Souza wants the contractor and those responsible for ordering the destruction to undo the damage done without any delay.
Who is responsible for this wanton destruction? Apart from Fr D’Souza, even Contractor Samuel Monteiro and his supervisor have both apparently pointed their fingers directly at Arpora-Nagoa Panch Member Cleophas Fernandes alias Celfa. But the latter has stoutly distanced himself from any illegal activity, saying that he is “not involved in the hill-cutting at Baga Retreat”. Why would someone else want to spend so much money and build a motorable road to a shack operated by Mr Celfa? The mystery remains…
