JULIO D’SILVA
julio@herald-goa.com
MARGAO: The recent government notification relaxing the Coastal Regulation Zone norms is being discussed and debated by various associations who are worried that the coasts, especially in the Konkan region, will simply turn into a concrete jungle.
While the Central Cabinet’s notification is being debated there exists a “beach of contention,” that too in Goa. May be it will surprise many Goans that villagers along the Southern Coastal belt are actually debating over the ownership of a beach – Zalor beach.
Does the beach fall in Carmona village or is it actually an extension of Fatrade beach of neighbouring Varca village? The answer is “yes” according to villagers from Carmona and a vehement “no” by the residents of Varca.
According to the former sarpanch of Varca, Roland Fernandes, Zalor is nothing but a ward of Carmona Village which is not touching the Arabian Sea at all but has Fatrade which is part of Varca as its Western boundary.
He pointed out to the key map of the South Goa district that clearly shows that the beach to the south of Varca village is the Cavelossim beach while Carmona and Orlim are two villages that do not touch the beachfront at all or rather have no beach but are totally land locked villages.
Besides, the regional plans also do not show that there is a beach that is the Western boundary of Carmona village. Hence Rolland termed the collection of revenue by Carmona panchayat from some people who are actually from Varca village as “illegal and unjustified”.
According to Roland the whole issue erupted when the Varca panchayat obtained a demolition order to remove the illegal construction done by one Gurudas Naik who has now changed his name to Amar Dais. To avoid the demolition Naik obtained a licence from the Carmona panchayat.
Incidentally the Carmona panchayat on December 15, 2010 filed an application claiming that Survey Nos. 123, 124 and 125 of Village Varca were wrongly shown to be part of Varca village but were actually part of Carmona and prayed for their inclusion in Carmona Village.
The Carmona Panchayat had relied upon old Cadastral plans and notification dated November 14, 1996 to substantiate their claim and also relied upon electricity bills to show that houses situated in that disputed area were coming under the Carmona Circle of the Electricity Department.
Deputy Collector Ajit Panchwadkar, while dismissing the application on August 24, 2016 said the Electricity Department circle was not applicable as various departments have their own circles for their own convenience.
Besides, Panchwadkar observed that the area demarcated at Zalor in the notification dated November 14, 1996 and the Zalor area mentioned in the electoral rolls were different and further referred to the Director of Panchayat order dated June 26, 1996 clearly stating that no part of Varca village falls in Carmona.
Hence the deputy collector while noting that he had no powers to decide upon the matter pointed out that only the government could decide about the matter and dismissed the application.
Carmona Sarpanch Allwyn Jorge, who has recently taken over as Sarpanch, said the issue was unnecessarily creating bad blood between the inhabitants of the two villages. “I would suggest that this matter be resolved amicably between the two villages without creating any animosity,” he said while suggesting that status quo be maintained at present.
However, following the dismissal of the application by the Deputy Collector some villagers are now seeking legal opinion to appeal against the order and pursue the matter before higher courts.
