CALANGUTE: Villagers of Candolim have opposed commercial activities on the ‘bundh’ alongside the Nerul-Sinquerim river. A resolution not to allow any commercial activities on the ‘bundh’ was taken at a gram sabha of the Candolim panchayat on Sunday.
Following the restoration of the old 1.5-km ‘bundh’ from Nerul bridge to Caculo house at a cost of Rs 8 crore, the area is being also developed as a park in the mangroves and there were proposals to start boating, fishing galleries and other ticketed activities at the ‘bundh’.
There has also been opposition from activists to the redevelopment of the ‘bundh’ and the proposed mangrove park, with the Calangute Constituency Forum (CCF) alleging that the mangroves are being destroyed in violation of the Environment Protection Act.
The CCF in a complaint in January to the Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA), chief secretary, the NGPDA and other authorities, had claimed that the “The existing 3.5 mtrs width of the ‘bundh’ has been expanded to 6-8 mtrs by doing land filling and destroying the mangroves/ biodiversity of the water bodies.
“The land filling is done on a large scale by covering the water bodies and causing destruction of its biodiversity to expand the width of the existing ‘bundh’ for vehicular movement and in the interest of builder lobby.
“The department of WRD and their contractors have done blatant violation of Environment Protection Act and destroyed the river biodiversity by cutting mangroves and using concrete for retaining wall,” the CCF had stated in the complaint.
