This is with reference to Rudolph Noronha’s letter titled ‘Cuncolkars mum’ on your esteemed daily dated 07/02/2016 regarding the silence of Cuncollekars against the unjust legislation withdrawing the tree status of Goa’s sacred coconut tree as presided by Fr.Kyril D’Souza, SFX, while delivering his homily during the feast mass of Our Lady of Health at Cuncolim Church.
The village has got a great history. The first revolution against the Portuguese rule was started from my historic village of Cuncolim. The village was in the forefront led by late Shabu Dessai during the Opinion poll. The village gave birth to great daring sons and I am proud to be a Cuncollekar but sadly that just remained as a history today.
Entire Goa must be aware of the fishmeal plant, owned by a Vellekar which was all set to come up at Velim. Vellekars unitedly objected to the project and the same was dumped in Cuncolim. Cuncollekars accepted the project with an open heart. Today this plant gives us a rotten smell on daily basis. Carbon deposits in our homes from other polluting industries have become a daily affair. Our ground water has been polluted. Our precious ancestral land has been sold to outsiders. Our fertile fields are been used as industrial waste dumping grounds. New ‘Nagars’ have come up and we Cuncollekars hardly been bothered and I am one of them. By looking at all this, I am sure that the souls of our great heavenly warriors are definitely not resting in peace.
Now as the Assembly elections are fast approaching, pollution resulting from Cuncolim Industrial Estate will be a hot topic back again but sadly political people think of fighting against pollution only at the time of elections and then they just forget the real issues. One cannot blame the politicians for that because making false promises and playing with the sentiments of the innocent people has become a routine and daily affair for Goa’s ugly politicians.
Last but not the least, the village is historic and nobody can deny that, but history is history. What about the present?
