JOSE MARIA MIRANDA
Goa is in real turmoil, with protests, PILs and agita tions over mega projects, constructions on hills, slopes, fields, water catchment areas, etc, felling of trees, unnecessary land acquisition for widening of roads, coal, double tracking, ca sinos and much more – all these to meet the insatiable personal greed of those in power who wish to cling to power by stoop ing to any level to please those who matter and finance them to survive, without a thought about the fate of their people. The government wouldn’t have had to beat a hasty re treat on some of its misadven tures had it been more pru dent and taken stakeholders and residents into confidence in advance. This process is de liberately avoided because the servile ministers and MLAs think that they are supreme, that the panchayat and gram sabhas are non-entities and that people are bound to op pose projects which are incon venient and damaging to them and are solely profit-making ventures for the rulers and their associates. Eventually, people rise, make the gov ernment eat humble pie and sometimes crores of our mon ey are wasted on investments already done on the cancelled project. Hopefully, the longest and one of the most worthy agita tions at Karapur, will have the same success. The people of this tiny village in Sanquelim, are fiercely fighting for their right to protect their land from being invaded by outsiders in large numbers.
If you enjoyed reading this article, you can help support our journalism by adding OHeraldo as a preferred source.
The developers may call it a ‘world class pro ject,’ but at what cost and for whom? Locals ask. With forests cleared, biodiversity destroyed and natural habitats wiped off for a luxury project extending over 130 acres, involving 300 flats and 1700 plots, causing environmental damage, re source scarcity (especially of water and power), demograph ic changes and above all dis turbing the peace and tranquil lity of residents? Goa is already facing wa ter shortage, which thankful ly has not been acute, as the monsoons have been some what kind to us. With so many swimming pools proposed in so many projects, the chances of water shortage are highly probable. The lessons of courage and tenacity of the people of Kara pur need to be learnt and em ulated by us. Strange that this government and especially their MLA turn a deaf ear to the woes of these simple and humble people, mostly poor tribals and farmers—not cash rich but rich in their principles and determination, dauntless and intrepid, who refuse to be cowed down by intimidation and threats.
Their fears are not unfound ed, as the developer bypassed mandatory Environmental Im pact Assessment despite the massive scale of development, undertaking mass deforesta tion and constructing on local hills, causing possible land slides and destroying water bodies. They claim that land belonging to the local Comu nidade was unfairly sold for the project. They are rightly concerned and strongly feel, as most do elsewhere, that the influx of thousands of new res idents will destroy their local culture and displace them from their ancestral livelihoods. In Dovondem, a small ward in Margao, people will protest this morning against a proposed mega housing project of around 300 flats for the same reason. The greed of our rulers will surely reduce locals to a minus cule minority. The exodus of Goans for bet ter horizons and the influx of outsiders are already congest ing our cities and villages. The massive traffic flow is already choking our roads, forcing vehi cles to crawl, making pedestri ans’ walking and road crossing difficult, and most of all, killing people in avoidable accidents. Partly this is due to the absence of intra-city transport, which makes the call to save fuel ab surd.
Our rulers have lost their thinking powers and will not rest until Goa turns into a Ban galore or Delhi, where comfort able living is near impossible. Only a highly irresponsible, grossly incompetent and insen sitive Government can afford to ignore these concerns. The aggrieved farmers of Karapur & Sarvan have now filed a Writ Petition in the High Court, where the main re spondents are Errichter Infra & House of Abinadhan Lodha, besides the Panchayat & TCP. Their main contentions are that 1) a wall of 1.9 km length has been constructed in Sur vey 176/1 in Karapur without technical clearance from TCP and without a construction li cence from the Panchayat; 2) post-facto technical clearance for regularisation was granted on 1.6.26 in violation of law; and 3) a compound wall in Sur vey 148/0 has blocked access to tenanted fields and orchards, in violation of approved plans. The illegal compound wall and blocked entrances have de prived people from accessing their tenanted lands as well as their village temple, Ghadicho Ravalnath, though the property owner was ordered to maintain 7 openings for access. Thus, use of the public road is obstructed besides access to 76 sub-di vided plots cultivated by 60 farmers. As a consequence of this, farmers are constrained to take much longer routes of ad ditional 2.7 kms, with probabil ity of fields getting affected by delays and damage to the crops.
Bouncers were also deployed to deny access. Thereafter, the Panchayat conducted an in spection and directed Errichter Infra to restore public access, which was again flouted. The involvement and support of the illegalities in Karapur by the TCP Dept are evidenced by the fact that the department granted post-facto approval on 1.6.26 to an illegally construct ed compound wall, which still lacks a construction licence from the Panchayat. Neither the TCP Act, 1974 nor the Building Regulations, 2010 contemplate or permit post-facto approvals for unauthorised constructions undertaken in violation of law. This is a blatant and abusive exercise of power, which de feats statutory provisions and legitimises illegalities by a De partment which has been in the news for all the wrong reasons and which Parrikar had clas sified as one which would be empty if he had to axe the cor rupt. Such is the reputation of this Dept, which has even been caught for charging lower fees than prescribed.
It is important to note that the controversial 574000 sq m. plot at Karapur was sold to an other company, now involved in the conflict, by a local com pany, having two well-known Goan politicians as Directors. There seems to be no truth in the assertion made by an inter ested politician, that the plot was converted to settlement, around 30 years back. In fact, a serious conflict of interest, involving a senior Goan pol itician, is the subject of a Writ Petition. Let us salute the spirit and unwavering determination of the people of Karapur, who on the 13th enter the 100th day of their buoyancy and resilience against an equally unrelent ing, arrogant, autocratic and stubborn Government as also against one of the most power ful and fastest-growing devel opers of the country, the House of Abhinandan Lodha. (The author is a retired banker)
