TEAM HERALD
MARGAO: Despite the Curtorim Panchayat adopting a resolution rejecting Salcete BDO’s direction to hold the gram sabha on Sunday (Aug 31), agitated villagers turned up in large numbers at the panchayat office in the morning only to find it closed. They have now vowed to continue their struggle till the 85-room controversial hotel project is scrapped.
Villagers informed that they turned up at the Panchayat Ghar as the Salcete BDO had directed the panchayat secretary to convene a gram sabha today to complete the unfinished business. The gram sabha was abruptly ended by the acting sarpanch on August 10 after he failed to answer queries regarding the 85-room hotel proposed in the village without the people’s knowledge or consent.
Today’s meeting, however, could not take place as the panchayat secretary and the elected representatives were conspicuous by their absence.
Villagers contended that the reason for the large turnout was to scuttle any plans in favour of the hotel project. A villager said, “we are here on rakhonn duty – to see that our village is not betrayed further by our own representatives.” He explained the illegalities resorted to by the secretary and the elected members to pass the hotel project against the law and the wishes and interests of the people.
“The villagers are convinced of the negative impacts of the proposed hotel. We are determined to ensure that the technical clearance granted without any legal basis is withdrawn. The residents believe that this project will not only erode the social and the cultural ethos of the village, but will also be gravely detrimental to the ecology, fertility of land and quality of life for the entire village”, remarked another villager.
Villagers maintained that the hillock on which the project is planned is not only picturesque, but also the most ecologically important hillock in the village. “Being one of the tallest hillocks along the banks of river Zuari, it has a sharp gradient facing the river, and therefore creates a wind breaker/storm barrier for the village in general, especially for the wards of Madel, Ungirim and Vetnem. In a village which has resisted large real estate projects for many years, this latest battle has seen almost the entire village unite like never before, possibly due to the larger threat perceived from the kind of tourism that has devastated coastal villages of Goa”, a villager vowed.
