MARGAO: Bharat Mukti Morcha (BMM) has strongly condemned the action of Tourism Department along with Goa police for demolishing the hut of fisherman Anil Morje’s at Morjim beach that was sheltering his canoes.
“People in Morjim were caught unaware as to why only a single fisherman’s hut was targeted by the Tourism Department while the rest of them were left untouched. Anil wasn’t served any notice nor was the Morjim Panchayat intimated. Anil has a history of fishing at Morjim beach tracing back to few generations much before even Tourism Department was set up in Goa,” said Sebastiao Rodrigues, BMM convenor
“Attack on huts at this spot is not new. Nine years ago, several thatched huts were set ablaze at mid-night destroying canoes and fishing nets stored inside. No one was arrested and no fisherman was compensated either. What is disturbing to note is that hotels on Morjim beach which are constructed illegally in the No Development Zone are not razed down by the Tourism Department,” he added.
BMM further added that the commercial interests and real estate development in Pernem along with the commissioning of the Mopa Airport has made it difficult for the fishing community to survive in the face of tactics to displace them.
BMM called on all fishing communities as well as fish consumers to unite and support Morjim fishermen and others like them.
who are being forced out as they are allegedly considered a ‘nuisance’ by the tourism industry.
BMMC also questioned why the demolition was not done by the Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA) and alleged that the Tourism department had carried out the ‘surgical strike’ without following due process and despite the fact that Morjim was recently declared as a fishing village.
BMM demanded that strict action be taken against all the Tourism Department officials who were involved in this alleged faulty demolition. BMM also demanded for the demolition of all the commercial constructions on Morjim beach allegedly within the No Development Zone (NDZ).
“All of them must be bulldozed and traditional access to beaches must be restored. If this is not done then in the foreseeable future there will be no access to beaches for common people of Goa and traditional fishing will cease its existence,” Rodrigues added further.
