MARGAO: The Cansaulim Villagers Action Committee (CVAC) has asked the Cansaulim village panchayat to demarcate all the water bodies in the village before granting No-Objection Certificates (NOC) for any ‘unwanted’ projects or licences.
They said this was important to ensure the protection of all the water bodies, ponds, nullahs and flood retention areas in the coastal belt of Cansaulim, Arossim and Cuelm villages, within and outside the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ).
The CVAC referred to scientific reports that spoke about the increase in global warming and how this could lead to stronger storms and cyclones that could devastate the coast.
CCAV lamented that the State government had not only turned a blind eye to this, they had failed to carry out a study to evaluate the increased flooding events in the future or the infrastructure to cope with such events.
“No Disaster Management Plans are made for our village, though we are located in the most vulnerable location and are exposed to extreme events that threaten our very existence,” CVAC added in their letter to the panchayat.
In fact, the existing water bodies that are serving our coastal belt and protecting our village from the present-day flood events, are not even demarcated on our survey plans,” CVAC added while elaborating on how these steps will serve the village well in the future.
