Team Herald
PANJIM: Town and Country Planning (TCP) Minister Vijai Sardesai on Wednesday asked department officials to revoke all permissions, if any, granted for development around the vicinity of Bondvol lake, while Water Resource Department (WRD) Minister Vinod Palienkar agreed to acquire the lake area as it is a water resource project. The TCP minister has asked his officials to issue a NOC to WRD on priority to acquire the property.
Following a series of reports in Herald, the two Ministers visited and inspected the Bondvol lake in Calapur-St Cruz on Wednesday.
“This is an issue concerning WRD. The lake needs to be conserved as it is a resource from Portuguese-era. We are not going to give any permission here, whoever was doing filling and hill cutting, we have filed an FIR against them and we will see that the person is penalised,” Sardesai said.
He said that TCP, WRD and the government is committed in preserving the lake. “This lake will be an example in a couple of years of our government’s commitment in preserving Goa’s natural heritage and we are going to do it, we are only asking cooperation from the local people,” Sardesai added.
Herald has been continuously following the matter as residents and farmers of the village have demanded the preservation of the water body as a wealth of the village.
The lake, which is rather deteriorated, was once a major water resource for the people of Calapur and St Cruz. Farmers have given up cultivation since the dispute on the ownership of the lake. The Calapur Comunidade tenant, who is presently claiming ownership of the lake, has even blocked access to the lake almost a kilometre before it.
Mariano Arauzo, local resident and a former President of Calapur Comunidade said the tenant has illegally blocked access to the lake and he has once been charged by Police for damaging the lake property.
“In Comunidade, no tenant can own a property by more than 550 sq mtrs of land and we are going to deal with this in court to protect the rights of the villagers,” Arauzo said.
Another local, Dominic Pereira, said the government has to make efforts to save the heritage areas and the water resource of the village. “If the lake is preserved and maintained there won’t be a shortage of water in the Calapur village throughout the year,” Pereira said.
Arturo D’Souza, a local activist and a member of Save Bondvol Lake Committee, who triggered the issue of the lake said that the fight to preserve and conserve the only water resource of the village will last till the people and farmers of village get justice.
“Shortly we will file a PIL in the High Court, if the government authorities fail to pursue as promised after the site inspection,” D’Souza said.
