MARGAO:Curtorim citizens are growing exceedingly frustrated as stakeholders, including farmers, were excluded from the meeting called by the Goa State Biodiversity Board (GSBB) to discuss the contentious issue of declaring Curtorim as a Biodiversity Heritage Site (BHS).
Oswald Fernandes, a Curtorim resident and farmer, expressed his dissatisfaction in a letter to GSBB, stating that despite being a farmer, Zonnkar, and Curtorim communidade shareholder, he was not informed about the crucial meeting.
Fernandes, who had previously filed objections to the preparation of the Curtorim BHS, revealed that the Sirgem Add and Angdoi Tollem Tenants Association and other farmers’ associations and concerned citizens had also raised objections.
He found it surprising that none of these stakeholders, apart from the Curtorim Biodiversity Management Committee (BMC), were invited to the Secretariat meeting.
Fernandes further claimed that their objections had been overlooked, and the process was being conducted in a disorganised manner. The stakeholders expressed serious reservations about the role played by BMC in drafting the Curtorim BHS.
